French retailer Auchan announced in a statement released on Tuesday that its 300 stores across France will be franchised before the "end of 2026".

A strong signal from the Mousquetaires/Intermarché group. Having faced difficulties for several years, the Auchan retailer announced on Tuesday its intention to operate all of its approximately 300 French supermarkets (excluding Corsica) as franchises under the Intermarché and Netto banners.

The project, "subject to prior authorization from the competent competition authorities", could "take effect at the end of 2026", Auchan, owned by the Mulliez family, detailed in a statement published this Tuesday.

Specifically, Auchan Retail, the group's distribution arm, plans to create a "dedicated legal entity" to continue operating stores that would change brands, via a franchise agreement concluded with Intermarché, the document stated.

"The business assets and real estate remain the property of Auchan, the employees remain Auchan employees, and we will work under the Intermarché banner, which will deliver the goods, the commercial policy, the store concept and which will supply the stores," assured Guillaume Darrasse, the CEO of Auchan Retail.

A "win-win" project

"This is something that will strengthen us" with supermarkets that will benefit "from the outset from all the competitive factors of the Intermarché brand, including the ability to offer competitive prices to consumers, which is essential in an increasingly competitive market," added the head of the fifth largest food distributor in France by market share.

“It’s a win-win situation,” added Thierry Cotillard, head of Les Mousquetaires/Intermarché, France’s third-largest retailer, claiming the company’s status as “the leader in the supermarket format in France.” Auchan will benefit from “our expertise,” and this “will allow us to expand our reach in the French market,” he concluded.

A redundancy plan involving 2,400 job cuts has been invalidated.

In two years, Intermarché has carried out two massive takeover operations with nearly 300 Casino stores in 2023/24 and 81 Colruyt stores by mid-June of this year.

For its part, Auchan, which had bet in 2024 on taking over nearly one hundred Casino stores, has just sold 19 stores to Lidl, 9 of which were among the supermarkets taken over from the Saint-Étienne-based chain.

At the end of 2024, it announced a restructuring plan involving nearly 2,400 job cuts. This plan was invalidated in September by the Lille Administrative Court, a decision the distributor has appealed.

The new cooperation between Auchan and Intermarché is part of a "broader partnership logic" initiated in 2024 and illustrated in particular by an exceptional ten-year alliance in the field of purchasing, stressed Thierry Cotillard.