‘AUCHAN’ CLOSES STORES IN RUSSIA AND CHANGES OPERATION POLICY

The Auchan hypermarket chain, which came to the Russian Federation from France, is changing the concept of working on the Russian market. This was announced earlier by the President of Auchan Retail Russia Philip Brochard. As a part of the new strategy, a part of the retail space will be leased to other entrepreneurs.

This year, a significant reduction in the number of Auchan hypermarkets took place in Russia. Some of them changed their format to urban-type retail outlets.

The new development strategy was announced in July this year.

The head of the Russian direction in an interview with Vedomosti media explained this by the need to increase the efficiency of retail space. In addition to lease by other entrepreneurs, the vacated space is planned to be used for warehouses of goods that will be delivered online. It is expected that this solution will simplify the order of preparation of goods for delivery, since they will be in one place, but not across the entire sales area.

Since the beginning of this year, Auchan has closed 17 stores in Russia.

A number of retail outlets were redesigned into convenience shops for the ‘Auchan City’ chain. They occupy less space and do not represent such a wide range of goods.

According to Ivan Martinovich, the head of Auchan Retail Russia, the decision to close the stores was made due to their unsatisfactory results, reports Kommersant.