System U poaches Sylvain Ferry from Biocoop to be its new Deputy Managing Director

2023-08-22 08:53:00

System U makes its market with the competition… and in particular with Biocoop. Sylvain Ferry, who has been the managing director since 2021, will take over as deputy managing director of the group of independents at the start of 2024.

“Inflation on food products has become structural” (Dominique Schelcher, System U)

An agricultural engineer by training, the 53-year-old manager began his career within the food industry in the Doux group », before a passage of « 24 years at Carrefour “Says System U in its press release. Theywill thus succeed Antoine Brieu to this position, which “will become partner-owner of an independent cooperative store by 2024.”

A brand that weighs more than Auchan, Lidl or Casino

System U, like the sector leader E.Leclerc or the third player Intermarché, is organized on a cooperative trade model in which the store owners are independent, but group together and pool their resources and know-how under the same brand. . Its CEO since May 2018 is Dominique Schelcher, elected for a six-year term and operator of a store in Fessenheim, in the Haut-Rhin.

Système U boasts 1,702 points of sale under the Hyper U, Super U, U Express and Utile brands throughout France, employing more than 73,000 employees. In large food distribution, it is overtaken by E. Leclerc, Carrefour and Intermarché, but weighs more than Auchan, Lidl or Casino.

The cooperative model is on the rise

The Federation of Cooperative and Associated Commerce (FCA), which represents traders operating their stores under a cooperative model, claimed at the end of June that this form of commerce had recorded a turnover in 2022 ” exceptional of 176.5 billion euros, i.e. growth of 8.3% » and this, while the sales of the whole retail trade contracted by 1.8%.

Proof of this vitality, several signs bringing together independent traders have recently bought all or part of the activity of so-called integrated distribution groups, which are much larger. This is the case in the toy sector, with the takeover of La Grande Récré by JouéClub, sports with the takeover by Intersport of a large part of Go Sport’s activity, or the announced takeover of 119 stores in the Casino group by Intermarché. Large distribution accounts for three-quarters of the activity of this form of commercial activity.

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(With AFP)