AUCHAN

'Auchan' SA is an international retail group and multinational corporation headquartered in Croix, France. It is one of the world's principal distribution groups . It is present in 12 countries and employs 175,000 employees.
Auchan has branches in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary, Russia, Morocco, China and Taiwan. It also entered the Romanian market in 2006, with the first hypermarket opened in Bucharest on the 7th of November 2006.
As of 26 October 2005, Auchan has 356 hypermarkets, 646 supermarkets and 2027 small shops around the world, as well as 116 hypermarkets in France.

Contents

Auchan's World

Slogan

Auchan around the world in May 2007

Auchan's own-label product brands

Auchan fascias

Auchan's failed ventures

See also

External links

Auchan's World

Auchan SA is controlled by the Mulliez Familly, one of the richest in France. Many French companies with a large international presence have been created by members of the Mulliez Familly :


★ Decathlon (sports stores)

★ Norauto (car repairs)

★ Leroy Merlin (DIY Shops)

★ Boulanger (electronic devices shops)

★ Phildar (Fabric Stores)

★ Accord Bank (loans)

★ Kiabi (Clothes shops)

★ Cultura (cultural products)

★ Pimkie (Clothes)

Slogan

The slogan of the company is ''La Vie, La Vraie'', which translates into English as "Life, real life". This is the basic principle of Auchan - to deliver a product whose origin is not hidden and can make life easier for the client. Auchan seeks to prove that a company can help the customer and be an environmentally-conscious company.
It has been changed for the new year 2007 into ''La vie Auchan, elle change la vie'' - "Auchan's lifestyle changes your life".

Auchan around the world in May 2007

'Country'	'First store'	'Number of stores'	'Hypermarkets'	'Supermarkets'
France	1961	408	120	288
Spain	1981	70	47	23
Italy	1989	308	42	266
Portugal	1996	17	17	-
Luxembourg	1996	1	1	-
Poland	1996	34	20	14
Argentina	1997	3	3	-
Hungary	1998	10	10	-
China	1999	87	16	71
Taiwan	2001	19	19	-
Morocco	2001	36	14	22
Russia	2002	19	14	5
Romania	2006	1	1	-
Ukraine	Planned	-	-	-

Auchan's own-label product brands

★ ''Le Moins Cher''-Economy Range similar to Smartprice (ASDA) , Value (Tesco), Bettabuy (morrisons)or Basics(sainsburys)

★ ''Les Produits Auchan''-Own brand of products

★ ''Rik et Rok''- Products designed for Children (this is also a "club" for children)

★ ''Les Produits Régionaux''- Regional Products such as Breton biscuits

★ ''Les grandes marques''- (not strictly a brand name-all of the major companies e.g. Kellogs)

Auchan fascias

★ 'France :' Auchan, ATAC, Auchan Direct, Voyage Auchan, Banque Accord.

★ 'China :' Auchan.

★ 'Spain :' Alcampo, Sabeco Supermarkets [1], Immochan Espagne, accordfin.

★ 'Hungary :' Auchan, Accord Magyarország.

★ 'Italy :' Auchan, smasupermercati, Cityper, Gallerie Auchan, iovorrei, cartaccord.

★ 'Luxembourg :' Auchan.

★ 'Argentina:' Auchan.

★ 'Romania:' Auchan.

★ 'Morocco :' Acima, Marjane.

★ 'Poland :' Auchan, Elea, A-Tak, Accord Finance, Immochan.

★ 'Portugal :' Jumbo, Pao de Açúcar, Rik e Rok, crediplus.

★ 'Russia :' Ашан.

★ 'A Taiwan :' RT Mart, Apic , Save and Safe.

★ 'On the Internet :' Auchandirect, voyagesauchan.com

Auchan's failed ventures

Auchan opened its first hypermarket in the United States in 1988 in Houston off the Sam Houston Tollway between Beechnut and Bissonnet streets. A second Houston location was opened in 2000 in a building just off the South Loop, which had formerly housed a Target store. Right before Auchan had decided on a second location, there were 55 checkout stands which makes it the only store with the maximum number of checkout stands.
Auchan also tried opening a store in the Chicago market in 1989. The store was a large hypermarket in the suburb of Bridgeview, Illinois. ^[1] The store was not successful and was later bought by a local Chicago chain, Dominick's supermarkets and converted into an Omni Superstore by 1991. The Omni Superstore closed in 1997 when Dominick's decided to convert the Omni's to Dominick's Fresh stores. This move failed and most of the former Omni's were closed, which meant that the building that once housed Auchan would be closed for good. That building stood vacant for the next 9 years and was finally demolished in winter 2006. The building had numerous board-ups, cracked pavements, broken glass, and gang graffiti inside prior to demolition.
All locations were closed by March 2003, leaving Auchan with no presence in the United States.
Auchan opened a number of stores in Mexico; the first of these opened in Mexico City in 1997 and eventually grew to five stores. Faced with stiff competition from Wal-Mart, as well as local superstore chains Gigante and Comercial Mexicana, as well as French rival Carrefour (who also sold their stores and left the country in March 2005) , Auchan decided to sell their stores to Comercial Mexicana and withdrew from Mexico in early 2005.
Auchan has also ventured into Argentina and withdrawn.

See also

★ List of French companies

External links

★ Official site in English