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INTERVIEW

Ludovic Holinier, SK 1990, Executive Chairman of Auchan Retail China

23 January 2018 INTERVIEW

FR           CN

At 50, Ludovic Holinier, who graduated from the SKEMA PGE programme in 1990, is Executive Chairman of Auchan Retail China and CEO of Sun Art (the Auchan Retail subsidiary in China), a strategic position in a country that is on the leading edge of the retail transformation. He talks to us about his participation in the development of the French supermarket retail giant in Luxembourg, the United States and Russia, and on the challenges presented by the huge Chinese market.

 

A look at your career history shows that you’ve been very loyal to Auchan!

Ludovic Holinier: Yes, in January I’ll have worked for Auchan for 27 years. This company has enabled me to change positions every three years and work in 5 different countries! I didn’t have a career in supermarket retailing in mind when I finished school; my plan was to get into management control. I’d completed a management control internship at Auchan, which is how Auchan got back in touch with me. I joined the company based on a plan that was supposed to lead to an in-store management control position after a period of 1 to 2 years. That meant I first had to gain experience as a department head in order to develop a sound understanding of the reality in the field, of Auchan’s core business, and to be able to understand the operational side and how the business works.

You became a management controller but rather quickly you moved back into a more operational role as store manager. Why?

The early 1990s is when the globalisation of supermarket retailing began. I wanted to experience the adventure of expatriation and life abroad. Initially, I did that by drawing on my skills as a management controller. To work abroad you first need to bank on your core skills, as it’s important to contribute your expertise. At that time, I had discovered the managerial aspect and how enjoyable it is to lead teams. It’s true that Auchan gave me this taste for leadership. Quite naturally, taking over the management of a store was a personal achievement and a necessary complement to the role of management controller, in which we observe and can advise but aren’t necessarily hands on. I wanted to see whether I was capable of leading the teams, deciding on and implementing strategies with them, and working towards the expected results. That is what I got out of that experience as store manager.

You moved to Luxembourg first, before working in America, Russia and now China, three very dissimilar business environments…

In Luxembourg I took a liking to living abroad, even though it is a country that might at first seem neither far away nor particularly exotic. Luxembourg was an important step in learning about the challenges of expat life. The cultural, linguistic and legal context was very different. At the time, our store personnel included more than 35 nationalities. And our customer base 150!

In the United States we were the outsider. Customers didn’t wait for us; each day we had to fight to stay alive, to make a place for ourselves. In 2003, Auchan decided to close up shop over there. I considered returning to France, but Russia was just getting off the ground. That is where I went, because I wanted to gain professional experience within a country in the pioneering phase and keep that international perspective. It was both very similar to the American experience and to Europe (to many it is in Europe and we share a common cultural heritage, sometimes more so than with Anglo-Saxon countries), but at the same time it is an emerging country. Everything needed doing.

Auchan’s vision is “Auchan changes lives”. I can assure you that for 12 years I really felt like I was changing our customers’ lives, by giving them access to new products, food security… It was really exciting to take part in the “liftoff” of both Auchan and Russia.

And now it’s China’s turn!

First, I returned to the head office for three years. That was important, because I discovered the more corporate side of our work. In that position I observed and prepared for my current role. I think I approach my role very differently to what I would have if I hadn’t had that experience. Today in China I face new challenges. It is a country that is experiencing strong growth, an environment that is moving at an incredible speed in terms of innovation and changes in consumer behaviour, and at the same time the company is very sizeable, since Sun Art, Auchan Retail’s subsidiary in China, consists of 460 stores and 140, 000 employees… So how do you make such a big company agile? How do you pick up speed? That is the challenge.

Is Auchan’s strategy to adapt to the particular characteristics of the different countries?

Auchan is a retailer that has always wanted to have extremely local subsidiaries. The model we transposed everywhere is the managerial model: our values, our company’s vision… these are essential to us. We have big but extremely localised stores in order to adapt to our customer base.

China is undoubtedly the most advanced country in the world when it comes to digital technology. The retail sector is especially impacted by this digital revolution, with market players such as Alibaba, but also Tencent and JD. In many aspects, the Chinese heavyweights are well ahead of their American competitors. In China, as in other emerging countries, the jump to digital was made straight away, without the need for managing a technological transition. Mobile payments, via WeChat or Alipay, are an everyday occurrence here. Everyone does it; it’s so easy that no one wants to walk around with cash or a credit card anymore. I feel like I’m in a country that is on the leading edge of the retail transformation due to this embrace of digital technology.

It’s in this context that Auchan has just partnered with the online giant Alibaba, a strategic alliance to develop e-commerce. Concretely, how is this going to work?

Sun Art’s capital is now held by two main shareholders: Auchan Retail and Alibaba. The result of this is a business alliance focused on home-delivered groceries. Customers will be able to buy our products – mainly food items, perishables, fast-moving consumer goods – via the Alibaba platforms. The promise is delivery within 60 minutes of the time of purchase, within a 3-km radius of our stores. This will require operational excellence and perfect execution. The collaboration with Alibaba brings us technological and logistical solutions, since they are the Chinese leader in last mile logistics.

In parallel, will you continue to open stores?

Yes, Auchan will continue to expand by opening brick-and-mortar stores at a rate of 30 to 40 per year. Sun Art is the market leader with a strong national foothold, present in 226 cities in China. We have 600 million Chinese in our customer catchment area; that’s about half of China’s population! In this country with a very high population density, our stores are very urban; visit and purchase frequency are higher than in Europe, but the average customer spend is lower.

Have your different expatriations transformed you? Was expatriation something you planned as a family?

I am married and we have two daughters. Expatriation was something we undertook first as a couple. Then my daughters also had their say. We chose to put them in a French school, because we weren’t imagining being gone for 20 years. It was important to us to maintain strong ties with France and its culture. In hindsight, we could also have educated them in the Russian system to enable them to absorb that culture even more.

Each experience has enriched me. Each experience transforms us (for the better, I hope!). My drivers have become stronger: openness, curiosity, enjoyment with the teams, respect for others… My personal values, on the other hand, have not changed.

Of course, professionally-speaking, being exposed to other languages and cultures, to different customers, has made me more flexible, more agile, and also more resilient. You never settle into a routine.

What advice do you have for students?

The first thing – and this seems major to me – is to choose a job, a field that you will enjoy. That has always been my driver. You can’t commit to something fully and give of yourself if you don’t like what you’re doing.

The second thing I would like to emphasise is the importance of internships: they are a valuable platform for understanding the different professions. A great deal of attention should be paid to these. During my career we could still plan to stay in a same company for a long time. This won’t necessarily be the case these days for students, who will naturally be more open and flexible.



Interview conducted by our partner petitjournal.com (Marie-Pierre Parlange)


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