French supermarket group opens its first cash-and-carry in Senegal

A no-frills concept, it sells a limited range of FMCG products in bulk at lower-than-supermarket prices. This makes Auchan Max more of a wholesale outlet serving commercial buyers, including foodservice and local traders. 

The first Auchan Max outlet in Senegal is, perhaps surprisingly, not located in busy Dakar, but in quieter Saly – a tourist community about a two-hour drive south of the capital city. It is being speculated that this is to test proof of concept and determine if cash-and-carry stores will take sales away from Auchan’s two local full-service supermarkets. 

Competing with Auchan Max in Senegal’s cash-and-carry market is the Supeco store brand, which was launched in 2019 by CFAO, a company that also operates the Carrefour supermarket franchise in francophone West Africa and has additional Superco outlets in Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire. 

Africa division seeks new opportunities on the continent 

Already well-established in Senegal, Auchan last year established an Africa division based in the country. Its role is to extend the brand across the continent, according to a report by the business news website Africa Business+. 

It is moving into Algeria through a partnership with the Great Way Group, a retail player operating in the Maghreb region. 

This will see the opening of a 5,000 square-metre Auchan hypermarket in the capital city of Algiers, operated by the Great Way Group. 

“To continue and expand our development in Africa, we are entering into a responsible partnership with one of Algeria’s leading retailers,” Yves Claude, Chairman and CEO of Auchan Retail, said at the time of the announcement last year. 

“We share a three-fold ambition: offering residents a novel shopping experience; offering them products that are good for their health and for the planet; and contributing to Algeria’s development, as far as we can, by encouraging the creation of agricultural value chains and local food production.” 

Yasser Hadjbenali, Executive Director of the Great Way Group, said in his own statement: “Our collaboration also seeks to provide an innovative, modern and exclusive customer experience, featuring services never previously seen in the Algerian market.  

“Auchan is the ideal partner to achieve this ambition of creating a new generation of competent, modern and forward-looking Algerian retailers.” 

Auchan has a retail presence in several markets. These include France, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Hungary and Taiwan.