Biggest Supermarkets in France: Groups, Banners and Buying Routes

E.Leclerc is the biggest grocery group in France in Kantar's P7 2025 comparison, with a 23.7% value share. Carrefour follows at 22.0%, then Groupement Mousquetaires at 17.9% and Coopérative U at 12.9%.

That answer needs a date and a denominator. Kantar measured spending by a 20,000-household Worldpanel sample from 16 June to 13 July 2025. Its “Généralistes” channel covers hypermarkets, supermarkets, discounters, convenience and internet for fast-moving consumer goods and self-service fresh products consumed at home. It is not a 2026 store-count ranking or a comparison of total group revenue.

This supplier-focused guide was checked on 14 September 2026. It separates groups from banners, flags current ownership changes, and shows why the buying level matters.

France's biggest grocery groups ranked on one measure

Source: Kantar's P7 2025 France update. The percentages use the same period, panel, channel and product scope, so they can be compared with each other. Rankings built from company revenue, store numbers, all retail sales or a later period answer different questions.

The French grocery market by format

INSEE's provisional 2025 retail data puts large general food stores at 58.6% of French food-retail sales, excluding tobacco. Specialist food retailers and artisans accounted for 20.4%, while small general food stores and frozen-food stores accounted for 8.7%.

Format momentum also differs. INSEE's 2025 activity review recorded a 2.2% rise in supermarket sales volume and a 0.6% decline in hypermarkets, the fourth consecutive annual decline for the latter. Small food stores and frozen-food stores rose 5.0%. A manufacturer should therefore ask which format is growing for its category, not just which parent group is largest.

Groups, banners, formats and buying implications

E.Leclerc

E.Leclerc's official movement description reports 598 independent members, 734 stores and 731 Drives. It explains that GALEC handles national referencing and marketing by product universe, while 16 regional purchasing cooperatives handle procurement and logistics and can work with regional suppliers. SCAMARK develops the group's private-label products. Those layers make “contact E.Leclerc” too broad to be a route.

Carrefour

Carrefour's 2025 Universal Registration Document reports 6,766 stores in France at year-end: 325 hypermarkets, 1,167 Carrefour Market supermarkets, 5,084 convenience stores, 157 Promocash outlets and 33 Supeco stores. The table separates integrated, franchised and partner-operated stores. For example, it records 190 integrated, 117 franchised and 18 partner hypermarkets, while 4,832 of the 5,084 convenience stores were franchised. Store ownership, banner and buying responsibility must therefore be checked separately.

Groupement Mousquetaires

The group's 2025 results report 2,043 Intermarché and 374 Netto points of sale in France, operated by independent business owners. The group's Intermarché format descriptions put Hyper stores on city outskirts, Super stores mainly in small towns, Contact stores in rural and suburban locations, and Express in urban locations. The results also describe Agromousquetaires, the group's industrial food-production arm. A branded listing, an externally made private-label product and a regional supply proposal can face different internal routes.

Coopérative U

Coopérative U's published commitments and reports describe a network of more than 1,900 stores and central Coopérative U, U Log and U Tech functions. The banners span hypermarket, supermarket and smaller convenience formats. The cooperative model makes territory, format and the relevant decision level part of the opportunity definition.

Auchan, Lidl, Casino and Aldi

These groups remain material in Kantar's same-scope ranking, but they are not interchangeable. Auchan spans large and smaller formats while its store perimeter is changing. Lidl and Aldi operate discount supermarket ranges. Casino sold most of its former hypermarket and supermarket estate and its 2025 results present a group focused on Monoprix, Franprix, Casino, Spar, Vival and Naturalia. A supplier should qualify the format and current banner before comparing account size.

Why store and banner lists age quickly

The Autorité de la concurrence's review of recent grocery transactions records the transfer of 261 Casino stores to Intermarché, 98 to Auchan, 27 to Carrefour and 19 to Lidl, as well as 186 Cora and Match stores to Carrefour and 43 Colruyt stores to Intermarché or Netto. These changes occurred across 2024 to 2026 and explain why older lists can overstate Casino's former estate or treat Cora and Match as a separate current group.

In July 2026 the authority also approved a joint venture covering 167 Auchan stores that are intended to operate under Intermarché and Netto banners. Approval does not mean every store had already converted by this article's 14 September 2026 check date. Suppliers should verify the live banner and legal entity for each affected opportunity.

Integrated, cooperative and mixed buying models

A June 2026 French Senate report on grocery concentration distinguishes integrated groups, groups of independent store owners and mixed models. This distinction affects who owns stores, who employs local teams and where assortment or commercial decisions can sit.

• Integrated: the group directly controls the retail network and central functions to a greater degree. Category access can still vary by format and proposition.
• Cooperative or independent-owner network: store owners are separate entrepreneurs who share banners, systems and group functions. National referencing does not automatically describe every regional or local decision.
• Mixed: integrated and franchised or partner-operated stores coexist. The same banner does not prove identical ownership or purchasing responsibility at every location.

What AURA and CONCORDIS change

Large retailers also pool selected negotiations and services. The Autorité de la concurrence describes AURA and CONCORDIS as separate alliances with different scopes. AURA brings together Intermarché, Auchan and Casino for specified national and international purchasing activities, including own-label products in the scope described by the authority. CONCORDIS brings together Carrefour, Coopérative U and RTG for specified manufacturer-brand and international service activities.

An alliance can affect negotiations without merging the retailers, banners or store networks. It does not prove that a category is pooled, that a supplier can approach one alliance desk, or that acceptance by one member carries to another.

How a supplier should use this list

1. Choose the consumer, category, price tier, format and initial French region.
2. Map the shopper banner to its current parent group and store operating model.
3. Identify whether the proposition is branded, private label, regional, promotional or marketplace-only.
4. Verify the contracting entity and national, regional or local decision level.
5. Check whether an alliance or group-owned production asset affects this exact category.
6. Prepare pack, shelf-life, service, capacity and commercial evidence for that route.

For a retailer-brand proposal, continue with the private-label supplier guide to France. For a Europe-wide view, use the European supermarket group comparison, which uses a different scope and does not substitute for country-level buying research.

Frequently asked questions

Which is the biggest supermarket group in France?

E.Leclerc ranks first in Kantar's P7 2025 value-share comparison at 23.7%. State the source period and measure because a revenue, store-count or later market-share comparison can produce a different answer.

Are Intermarché and Netto the same group?

Yes. Both are food-retail banners of Groupement Mousquetaires, but their formats and assortments differ. The banner still matters to a supplier's proposition.

Are Hyper U and Super U the same group?

Yes. They sit within Coopérative U alongside U Express and Utile. Each banner represents a different store format and shopper mission.

Did Intermarché already take over 167 Auchan stores?

The French competition authority approved the joint-venture structure in July 2026. Its announcement describes the intended transition to Intermarché and Netto banners; it does not establish that all conversions were complete by 14 September 2026.

Does one national listing cover every store?

Do not assume so. Cooperative ownership, franchise arrangements, regional structures, store formats and category rules can affect execution. Confirm the agreed store perimeter and service model in writing.

Map the live buying route

GourmetPro's Distributor Partner Search can assess whether direct retail, an importer or distributor, or another account-development route fits your category. Use the Market Diagnostic Sprint when the first question is whether France, the format and the proposition are commercially attractive enough to pursue.

For regional context, see the Europe food and beverage market page.