Traditional Grocery Retailers in France

2021 DEVELOPMENTS

After enjoying a sales peak in mid-2020 due to their proximity to consumers’ homes, the channel suffers as the pandemic recedes and inflation and lower spending power bite

After a logical slowdown during the initial weeks of the first lockdown of the winter 2020, traditional grocery retailers enjoyed an unexpected peak of sales in April, May and June 2020. Given that the majority of these independent retail outlets are classified as food and drinks specialists, they were authorised to remain open and continued operating at full capacity throughout the quarantine lockdown period, with the same situation remaining in place during the following two lockdowns at the end of 2020 and early 2021.

Double-digit growth for chained outlets, primarily organic stores

Given the uncertain context created by the global health crisis in 2020-2021, some categories in traditional grocery retailers, but particularly chained outlets, proved resilient during the first few weeks of the pandemic with many able to take advantage in full of the consumer trend of coming back to shop locally for organic and Fairtrade products in particular. A small number of chained traditional grocery retailers benefited from having better and more extensive marketing campaigns and financial resources to adapt to the situation, in terms of sanitary precautions and a migration towards developing an omnichannel.

Picard retains lead thanks to its focus on frozen food while biocoop leads in organic grocers

With just a small share in terms of value sales, Picard Surgelés remains the leading player in traditional grocery retailers as this channel is characterised by tens of thousands of artisanal independent retailers. After years of modest growth despite its premium positioning in a similar sluggish market of frozen food specialists, Picard Surgelés seized on an opportunity when frozen packaged took off in 2020-2021.

PROSPECTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Consumers torn between quality and hand-made products and the appeal of low prices

The outlook for the forecast period for traditional grocery retailers is rather grey. Admittedly, some French consumers (at least those who can afford it) will remain loyal to high quality and local products, mainly when these aspects are offered by traditional grocery retailers.

Mixed results for food/drink/tobacco specialists over the forecast period

The aforementioned price difference with modern grocery retailers is even wider in the case of chocolatiers, delicatessen and other premium outlets. Of course, after having suffered from the absence of social occasions and situations in which consumers share their products, as exemplified by the drop in sales of Easter eggs in 2020-2021, the “pleasure of giving” will be back.

Organic stores fare well and enjoy good prospects over the forecast period

The future seems full of promise for specialists in organic products despite the fact that modern grocery retailers have long understood consumer interest in organic products and accelerated their offensive in this regard offering more shelves but particularly more private label, with a more competitive offering than in biocoop, Naturalia and L’Eau Vive, for instance. However, the failure of Auchan Bio and the fact that Carrefour is disinvesting from its specific Carrefour Bio fascia to favour the newly acquired Bio C’Bon would indicate that there is even more potential for organic grocers, mainly as such specialists are also becoming click-and-collect experts and strengthening their private label to become more competitive.