It's a first. In the Troyes conurbation, a Leclerc franchisee was banned from buying a Géant Casino. Why ? Because this merger would have left an entire shopping area in the hands of just two brands. This, in the eyes of the institution, risked increasing prices and therefore penalizing consumers.
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To understand, we must imagine that there are currently three hypermarket brands in the Troyes conurbation: Carrefour, Leclerc, and the famous Géant Casino targeted by a buyout procedure. With this operation, the latter would be out of the game. And Carrefour and Leclerc, each with two hypermarkets, would have been in a situation of duopoly.
A duopoly harmful to purchasing power
If the term may seem abstract, it has very concrete consequences for consumers. "At the end of this analysis, we were able to observe that the prices were likely to increase, not only in the store which was bought but also in the others of the zone", argues Isabelle de Silva, president of the Authority of the competition. . “Because we would only have had two brands, the two Leclerc stores and the two Carrefour stores. Our concern was that this operation would not only reduce competition but also have very concrete impacts on the market. consumer."
This is why the Autorité de la concurrence recommends the presence of at least 3 to 4 brands per shopping area. And if this is the first time that it has had to ban such a transaction, it is because, usually, the brands withdraw their takeover offer if no solution can be found to preserve competition. There, Leclerc wanted to go all the way ... and lost.