Auchan
Parent ELO | | |
Website | auchan-retail.com |
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Auchan (French pronunciation: [oʃɑ̃]) is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France.[4] It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by the Mulliez family, who has 95% stake in the company.[5] With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% stake in the company, it is the 35th largest employer in the world.
The company operates under the name Auchan in France, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Portugal, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Tunisia, as Alcampo in Spain, as Aшан (Ashan) in Russia, Ukraine and Tajikistan. The company has also set up operations as Auchan in Italy, China and Taiwan.
The name comes from the first Auchan shop in Roubaix in the district of Hauts-Champs, the pronunciation of which is identical to that of "Auchan".[6]
As of 2022, Auchan is one of the world's largest retailers with a direct presence in France, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Taiwan and Senegal. In 2022, the company's revenue in Russia amounted to 237 billion rubles.[7]
Auchan is a rare example of a
History
1961–1969: The beginnings
After meeting the founders of the Carrefour and Leclerc,[12] on 6 July 1961, Gérard Mulliez opens the first Auchan store in a disused factory of the company Phildar, founded by his father, also named Gérard.[13] Covering an area of 600 m2, this store was located in the district of Hauts-Champs, in Roubaix. Originally, the store was to be called "Ochan", but because of the Japanese sounding, changed the name to "Auchan".[14] The choice of the initial letter "A" was desired by the founders to appear in first place in directories. Gérard Mulliez relied on the advice of Édouard Leclerc to open his first supermarket. This store had to be closed in the 1980s because of strong competition with the one that had been built in Leers. The building was bought by the Intermarché. In 2003 it was demolished to make space for a more modern store.
In the summer of 1967, on 20 August, Auchan opens its first hypermarket in Roncq in an initially commercial area of 3500 m2.[15] According to Gérard Mulliez, Roncq location served as a model for other hypermarkets in France in non-food enlargement.[16] On 27 March 1969 was opened the Englos-les-Géants shopping center at Englos in the Lille metropolis. Englos les Giants was the first shopping mall with a hypermarket and a retail park in France.[17]
Mulliez family
Auchan SA is controlled by the
Auchan operations
Country | Name | First store | Hypermarkets | Supermarkets | Convenience stores | Shopping centres |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
France | Auchan | 1961 | 119 | 241 | 9 | 83 |
Spain | Alcampo | 1981 | 61 | 65 | 49 | 29 |
Luxembourg | Auchan | 1996 | 2 | 1 | - | 2 |
Portugal | Auchan | 1996 | 31 | 4 | 29 | 13 |
Poland | Auchan | 1996 | 70 | 27 | 5 | 24 |
Romania | Auchan | 2006 | 33 | 5 | 135 | 23 |
Hungary | Auchan | 1998 | 19 | 6 | - | 18 |
Russia | Aшан | 2002 | 62 | 193 | 12 | 38 |
Ukraine | Aшан | 2008 | 22 | 8 | - | 3 |
Taiwan | RT-Mart | 2001 | 18 | - | 4 | 22 |
Senegal | Auchan | 2015 | 1 | 18 | - | - |
Franchise | ||||||
Mauritania | Auchan | 2015 | - | 2 | - | - |
Tajikistan | Aшан | 2016 | 1 | - | - | - |
Tunisia | Magasin Général | 2012 | - | 81 | - | - |
China
Auchan opened its first store in Shanghai in 1999. It operates through Sun Art Retail Group, a public company listed in Hong Kong, in which Auchan holds 38,5% stake and Alibaba Group 26%.[18]
Suzhou Jinji Lake store that is located in Suzhou Industrial Park had nine million visitors during that fiscal year with over four hundred million turnover and became one of the biggest Auchan hypermarkets in the world. Suzhou store expanded in 2008 and is the biggest Auchan Hypermarket in China, the second biggest in the world. Also, Auchan China led to open its online shopping website for the stores in Shanghai and Suzhou.
Auchan offers online shopping only in those two cities so far and is opening in Suzhou its first AuchanDrive store, based on its French model (click & go) in May 2012. The AuchanDrive service allows customers to purchase groceries online for home delivery, these locations being examples of online supermarkets in China.
Since 2017, a number of unmanned convenience stores, marketed as BingoBox, are being operated by Auchan in China.[19][20]
In 2020, Auchan leaves China, after selling its shares to Alibaba.
Russia
Auchan (branded as Aшан) has been active on the Russian market since 2002 and had over 100 hypermarkets in the country by December 2016. It's the company's third largest market, after France and China.
In November 2021, Russian “Auchan” signed with online-delivery service "Sbermarket" a deal of strategic partnership in e-commerce until 2028. First, from 2022, both partners will be focused on delivery from darkstores as well as delivery and loyalty programs for B2B clients.[24] In January 2022, Russian Auchan switched on 73 stores (more than a half of its stores, including "Atak") to Sbermarket delivery.[25] One of few western companies still operating in Russia after the country invaded Ukraine. Auchan have continued their operations in Russia, arguing they will continue to do so for "humanitarian reasons".
Auchan was added to the Ukrainian International Sponsors of War list following the 2023 joint investigation by The Insider, Bellingcat and Le Monde claimed that Auchan Russia is actively supporting Russian military in Ukraine by periodically supplying food, clothes, cigarettes and other items. Official Auchan communications claimed these items were supplied to Donbas as "humanitarian help" but as noted in the investigation, all collected items were targeted at "adult men" including items that are never[citation needed] supplied in regular humanitarian help, such as cigarettes, and were thus intended for Russian soldiers. Auchan Russia reportedly both organizes "mandatory voluntary" collections among its employees and provides batches of these items for free.[9][10]
Elo Group
Elo Group, previously known as Auchan Holding, is the holding company of Auchan Retail. It also includes New Immo Holding (previously known as Ceetrus and Immochan), the division which operates
Slogan
The slogan of the company was La Vie, La Vraie, which translates into English as "Life, the real one". The slogan was changed in 2007 to: La vie Auchan, elle change la vie – "Auchan's lifestyle changes life (itself).
Withdrawn ventures
Auchan opened a number of stores in Mexico; the first of these opened in
In 2002 Auchan sold its hypermarkets in Thailand to Groupe Casino.
In 2007 Auchan sold its Argentine stores to
Following a conflict with its Moroccan partner ONA, Auchan sold its 49% share in August 2007.
In January 2011 Auchan withdrew from the Dubai market after just two years.[26]
The first Italian Auchan hypermarket was opened in Turin on 1989. In 2019 Auchan withdrew from Italy due to financial losses, by selling most of the activities of its Auchan Retail Italia to the Italian retailer Conad. Also withdrew from Vietnam due to losses and slow development.[27]
United States
Auchan did business in the United States from 1988 to 2003 as Auchan Hypermarket under its subsidiary, Auchan USA,[28] who was the successor of interest to Texfield Inc.[29] By the time of its closing it was the only French hypermarket chain to still operate American stores, as other hypermarket chains, such as Carrefour and E.Leclerc (under the guise of Leedmark) gave up in the United States market around 1993–1994.[30]
The first American Auchan (pronounced by Houstonians as “o-shawn”) store opened in western
Auchan also opened a store in the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview, Illinois, in 1989.[33] It only sold food, and it was not as large as the Houston store. In 1991 the store closed.[32] It was later bought by a local Chicago supermarket chain, Dominick's, and converted into an Omni Superstore by 1991.
Auchan's second
Criticism
Building collapse at Savar
On 24 April 2013, the eight-story Rana Plaza commercial building collapsed in
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Following the
According to documents obtained by the NGO Bellingcat, the independent Russian media The Insider and Le Monde, the retail company, owned by the Mulliez family, eighth French fortune according to Challenges, is allegedly participating in the Russian war effort.[43][44]
On 23 February 2023, the Ukrainian
See also
References
- ^ "National Institute of Industrial Property (France)". 17 May 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
- ^ a b c "ELO 2022 Annual Financial Report" (PDF). groupe-elo.com. 17 May 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f "Annual Report 2020 Auchan Holding" (PDF). auchan-retail.com. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
- ^ "Contact Archived 30 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine." Auchan. Retrieved on 24 October 2012. "Groupe Auchan 40, avenue de Flandre – BP 139 59964 Croix Cedex – France"
- ^ "Auchan Holding Shareholding" (PDF). Auchan Holding. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- ^ Cédric Citrain, "A Cap occitan, on fête les 50 ans d'Auchan", Midi Libre" (Bézier edition),19 January 2011, p3.
- ^ "ООО "Ашан"". www.rusprofile.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 30 November 2023.
- ^ "French retailer Auchan does not plan to change its Russia strategy". Reuters. 25 May 2022. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
- ^ a b "Auchan supplied Russian military under guise of "humanitarian aid"". news.yahoo.com. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
- ^ a b "French company Auchan supporting Russia's war effort in Ukraine, report says". POLITICO. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
- ^ "Auchan". NACP. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
- ^ La Voix éco, ed. (2011). "Auchan : Et l'histoire commence pour l'enseigne au rouge-gorge". Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011..
- ^ Jean-Noël Caussil (2011). LSA (ed.). "Auchan, la cinquantaine fringante". Retrieved 5 August 2011.
- ^ Alexandre Debouté (2009). "Pourquoi Auchan s'appelle Auchan". Le Figaro. Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2009..
- ^ Y. B. (2007). La Voix éco (ed.). "Auchan Roncq est le plus grand d'Europe en 1968". Archived from the original on 8 April 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2010..
- ^ Yannick Boucher (2007). La Voix éco (ed.). "Gérard Mulliez fête à Roncq l'invention du premier hypermarché Auchan". Archived from the original on 30 April 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2010..
- ^ Benoît Deseure (2009). La Voix éco (ed.). "Englos : il y a tout juste 40 ans, la révolution Auchan…". Archived from the original on 3 April 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2010..
- ^ "Sun Art Retail Shareholding Structure". 26 August 2017.
- ^ Allison Bew (26 August 2017). "Are China's Staff-less Stores a Glimpse into the Future?".
- ^ Moliang Jiang (15 August 2017). "New Retail in China: a Growth Engine for the Retail Industry".
- ^ "French hypermarket chain Auchan stepping up investment in Russia". Reuters. 13 December 2016.
- ^ "Russia sends food inspectors into Auchan stores". Ft.com. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "50 крупнейших иностранных компаний в России - 2016". Forbes.ru. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
- Интерфакс. 10 November 2021.
- Интерфакс. 18 January 2022.
- ^ "Auchan closes its hypermarkert in DragonMart". Archived from the original on 12 February 2011.
- ^ "Auchan leaves Italy and Vietnam". ISN Magazine. 16 May 2019. Archived from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
- ^ Houston Business Journal. Sunday 8 June 2003. Modified on Thursday 5 June 2003. Retrieved on 13 January 2011.
- ^ "NO. 97-1052." (Archived 12 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine) Supreme Court of Texas. Retrieved on 13 November 2012. "AUCHAN USA, INC., SUCCESSOR IN INTEREST TO TEXFIELD, INC., D/B/A AUCHAN HYPERMARKET, RESPONDENT"
- ^ "Etats-Unis." Auchan. 25 May 2002. Retrieved on 13 January 2011. "Aujourd'hui, Auchan est la seule enseigne française d'hypermarchés encore implantée aux Etats- Unis."
- ^ Houston Business Journal. Monday 6 January 2003. Retrieved on 13 January 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Kaplan, David. "Auchan closing local stores to exit U.S. market." Houston Chronicle. 7 January 2003. Retrieved on 13 November 2012.
- ^ Liebeck, Laura (1988). "Auchan chooses Chicago for its 2nd hypermarket". Discount Store News.
- ^ "Hurricane Ike evacuees moved again | abc13.com". Archived from the original on 20 November 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
- ^ Ahmed, Saeed; Lakhani, Leone (14 June 2013), "Bangladesh building collapse: An end to recovery efforts, a promise of a new start", CNN, retrieved 16 December 2013
- ^ Zain Al-Mahmood, Syed (24 April 2013). "Matalan supplier among manufacturers in Bangladesh building collapse". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ O'Connor, Clare. "'Extreme Pricing' At What Cost? Retailer Joe Fresh Sends Reps To Bangladesh As Death Toll Rises". Forbes.
- ^ Nelson, Dean (24 April 2013). "Bangladesh building collapse kills at least 82 in Dhaka". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
- ^ Alam, Julhas (24 April 2013). "At least 87 dead in Bangladesh building collapse". USA Today. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
- ^ Ovi, Ibrahim Hossain (2013), Buyers' compensation for Rana Plaza victims far from reality, archived from the original on 25 March 2016, retrieved 16 December 2013
- ^ Pladson, Kristie. "Which companies have pulled out of Russia over the Ukraine invasion? | DW | 10.03.2022". DW.COM. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- ^ "Auchan, Total, Renault… L'embarras des entreprises françaises en Russie". L'Obs (in French). 8 March 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ^ "Les distributions troubles d'Auchan en Russie" (in French). Le Monde. 17 February 2023.
- ^ "Vidéo. Video investigation: How a French company is supporting Russia's war effort in Ukraine". Le Monde.fr. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
- ^ "Auchan gets on the war sponsors list in Ukraine - Ukrainian World Congress". www.ukrainianworldcongress.org. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ "Ukraine's anti-graft agency declares Auchan international sponsor of Russia's war". english.nv.ua. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ Лілія, Король (23 February 2023). "Фінансують війну та сприяють мобілізації в рф: французьку корпорацію Auchan НАЗК внесло до переліку міжнародних спонсорів війни". НАЗК (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ "International sponsor of war". sanctions.nazk.gov.ua. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
External links
- Auchan Retail
- Auchan Holding[permanent dead link]
- Auchan USA (Archive)