French retail chain Edouard Leclerc has unveiled plans to open up to 1,000 hard discount supermarkets nationwide later this year.
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The move follows a long-running, but so far unsuccessful campaign, to secure the reform of French retail pricing legislation which currently prevents hypermarkets from selling leading brands at lower prices.
Speaking on French radio station, Radio Classique, Michel-Edouard Leclerc, the co-president of Association des Centres Distributeurs E. Leclerc, which groups well over 500 individually-owned hypermarkets and supermarkets in France, said store franchisees had licence to open two hard discount outlets in their area from September.
“Everything is in place (for the launch) and all that remains is to press the button,” he added.
He declined to give details of the Leclerc discount outlet concept but did reveal that it had been driven by local managers who had already tested it out and were eager to put it into practice.
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By GlobalDataHe said that “hard discount” outlets were likely to account for 18 to 20% of the French retail market in the next four to five years compared to just over 13% today.
