The choice of the Delhaize group to “franchise” its stores worries the Colruyt group. In a letter to the Minister of Labor, he denounces a risk of “unfair competition” between supermarket chains, particularly in terms of salary costs. To avoid this, Colruyt therefore pleads for an in-depth reform of the retail sector.
In addition to management and the unions, a new player is appearing in the conflict at Delhaize. One of its main competitors: the Colruyt group. He therefore criticizes Delhaize’s decision to franchise its 128 stores. “This situation is detrimental to the real small independents: the baker, the butcher, the small independent retailer, but also to the integrated chains”can we read in particular in the letter.
In Belgium, the retail trade is governed by five different joint committees, each with its own specificities. For example: an employee in a franchised supermarket (in joint commission 201) will earn 2300 euros gross per month. At equal position, in an integrated store (joint committee 202), he would earn 2700 euros gross. Colruyt would like to reduce these differences.
“Colruyt has a handicap in terms of the social charge because it works with integrated stores where the total social cost, therefore what the company pays, weighs between 25 and 30% more expensive”explains Pierre-Alexandre Billiet, retail specialist.
Colruyt, the last Belgian-Belgian player in mass distribution, operates the vast majority of its stores in an integrated model. This is less the case with its competitors. In Belgium, 621 Carrefour are franchised (out of 705 stores), 48 of the 73 Albert Heijn in the country too.
Will the trend spread to the whole sector? “Certain types of supermarkets lend themselves much less to franchising, that is to say the hard-discount, the German model (Aldi and Lidl), which is more of a military model where there is little space for entrepreneurship, freedom, creativity”says Pierre-Alexandre Billiet
Colruyt calls for the harmonization of the various joint committees that govern large-scale distribution in Belgium. A reform that would require the agreement of the social partners (employers’ federation and trade unions). Sectoral negotiations open in just over two weeks.
