Fresh, expensive, French

Hungarians never stay neutral when the French are the subject of the discussion. While their wealth of cultural heritage is generally admired, their chauvinistic arrogance and refusal to speak foreign languages is not left unnoticed either. The French government keeps making attempts at regulating retail trade, which would not be a problem, if these attempts did not turn out to be excessively rude. Hyper markets are a French invention, but a law was enacted to prevent their excessive proliferation – when their boom had already been over. Selling below the purchase price is an evergreen topic. In the mid 90’s, the French succeeded in working out regulations which ensured that consumer prices stay 15-20 per cent higher than in Germany. As a result, the international expansion of French chains has been financed by French consumers. Carrefour is the largest French retail chain and the second largest in the world. They have 4000 stores of all types in France with a 20 per cent market share. Hard discount stores have presented Carefour with a major challenge, but owing to recent changes in regulation, it has been able to fight back by reducing its prices and introducing private labels of its own. Leclerc has a market share of 12 per cent. Leclerc hyper markets are owned individually, but purchasing is done collectively through a centralised system. Members of the chain have access to financing from the chain. Intermarché and Systeme U have adopted the same system among supermarkets. Auchan is a medium size market player in France and is best known for its wide assortment of fresh products. Cora is regarded as small in France. Aldi and Lidl discount store chains are producing rapid growth in France. Not long ago, there has been a year when they opened 1,000 stores within 12 months. Their market share is around 15 per cent at the moment. Even highly centralised retail chains have regional assortments. For example, a much wider than usual range of beers is available in Elsace, the region where I had spent three years. A large number of local cheeses like Münster is also available in all stores. In January, spectacular choucroute (a local speciality) sales are held in stores.