Mass distribution: Intermarché, Auchan and Casino suspected of anti-competitive practices

Aura, the alliance of Intermarché, Auchan and Casino are in the sights of the Competition Authority. It is suspected of anti-competitive practices, according to a press release less than three weeks before the opening of annual commercial negotiations between distributors and manufacturers.

The Authority announced in January the opening of an analysis procedure targeting two major mass distribution purchasing centers, Aura and Concordis (Carrefour, Coopérative U), to assess their effects on distributors and their suppliers as well as on producers and consumers. This “competitive assessment” was to be made public by the end of 2026 for Aura, and in 2027 for Concordis.

“Offer more competitive prices to consumers”

On Thursday, the regulator's investigation services "notified a report" to the members of Aura, after having "identified several practices likely to significantly harm competition" on the upstream market (supply) as well as on the downstream (retail distribution), without being "compensated by a sufficient contribution to economic progress", according to a press release. These conclusions “do not prejudge the decision that the College of the Competition Authority will be called upon to take”, while “a period of two months” opens allowing the parties to “present their observations and, if necessary, propose corrective measures”, it is underlined.

Contacted by AFP, the Mousquetaires/Intermarché group declared that it would “take note” of the report and would present its “observations” during the adversarial procedure. “These purchasing alliances only concern the largest mid-sized companies (ETI) and multinationals of major brand products,” recalled the distributor. They make it possible to “offer more competitive prices to consumers”, contributing “thus to the preservation of the purchasing power of the French”, he argued. Asked by AFP, Auchan and Casino did not comment.

The start of negotiations scheduled for December 1

For several years, the giants of mass distribution have entered into alliances to weigh against multinational agri-food companies. Industrialists and certain French political leaders regularly accuse them of wanting to circumvent French law by using European purchasing centers based abroad, to the detriment of better remuneration for farmers, which they dispute.

Annual commercial negotiations between supermarkets and suppliers, which ultimately determine shelf prices (excluding distributors' own brands), must begin on December 1st and end on March 1st. They promise to be particularly stormy this year, against a backdrop of rising energy costs and the agricultural crisis.