(AFP / LOIC VENANCE)
The independent brands E.Leclerc and Les Mousquetaires/Intermarché, respectively the first and third French food distributor, are joining the Federation of Commerce and Distribution, from which they were historically absent, the FCD announced on Tuesday.
With these arrivals, the FCD will therefore represent the entire large-scale food distribution sector, hoping that the brands will “contribute with a common voice to the public debate and promote trade professions commensurate with their impact and their unique commitment to the country,” according to a press release.
The FCD was historically perceived as the representative of so-called integrated brands, such as Carrefour, Casino and Auchan, that is to say distribution groups that own all of their points of sale and employers of all employees working in a store under their brand.
“It showed a lack of representativeness and impact,” said FCD president Alexandre Bompard, also boss of Carrefour, during a telephone press briefing.
The model of E.Leclerc and Intermarché, as well as Système U which is the fourth largest food distributor in France and was already a member of the FCD, is an independent model where each boss owns one or a few stores.
In cooperative commerce, independent entrepreneurs come together and pool “their resources and know-how with the aim of implementing common actions and tools”, explains the Fédération du commerce et associate (FCA), which represents groups of independents. E.Leclerc and Intermarché are members of the FCA and will remain so in parallel with their entry into the FCD.
Membership of the FCD “is the logical outcome of cooperation initiated several years ago with our competitors on all questions involving the future of our professions”, reacted in a press release Michel-Edouard Leclerc, president of the strategic committee of the E.Leclerc centers. “We have to know how to work together to meet the enormous challenges of decarbonization, digitalization or new mobility.”