Michel-Édouard Leclerc ensures "that there is no social plan planned at Leclerc"

INTERVIEW

It is a "real shock" for the unions.

Auchan announced Thursday the elimination of 1,500 jobs in France, after having announced more than 500 at the beginning of the year.

Michel-Édouard Leclerc, the boss of another giant in the distribution, assured that his group would not proceed to layoffs in the coming months.

"There is no social plan planned at Leclerc. We could, but we will not do it because we have anticipated," he said Thursday evening on Europe 1.

"It always has social and personal consequences for those who work"

"I am not going to speak badly of a group which must recover. First, it always has social and personal consequences for those who work, in this case at Auchan", insisted on Michel-Édouard Leclerc , before discussing the good economic health of his group.

"We continue to hire because we anticipated changes in consumption like the others. We had not anticipated the Covid, but we anticipated changes in consumption 5-6 years ago. Today , if we are in the lead, if we create jobs, it is precisely because we had this reactivity ", praised the boss of Leclerc.

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How Auchan's management justifies the 1,475 jobs cut in France

"Our hypermarkets are not affected by the desertification movement of supermarkets"

Auchan, whose model is still largely based on hypermarkets, has suffered in recent years from the change in consumption habits, with customers turning more and more to convenience stores.

"The hypermarket remains the bulk of our activity, these are our flagships. Our hypermarkets work well, they are on a human scale, they are not too large. They are not affected by this movement of desertification of supermarkets", assured Michel-Édouard Leclerc.

"Today, almost 10% of the turnover of Leclerc centers is made from digital, either on the drive or home delivery."