New price war between supermarkets for holiday departures

Leclerc has sparked hostilities with the return of “at cost price” operations. A seduction operation while 7 out of 10 French people go on holiday by car.

Bison futé is predicting a busy weekend on July 19 and 20 on the roads for the fourth weekend of summer. And the price battle at the pump has begun in the mass retail sector. Leclerc was the first to go on the offensive with an advertising campaign in the press supported by an interview with Michel-Édouard Leclerc in person on Thursday on RTL.

Fuel will be at cost price, in the group’s more than 700 gas stations, from Friday to Sunday inclusive, as well as the weekends of August 2 to 4 and August 16 to 18. An announcement that is sure to hit the mark as 7 out of 10 French people go on vacation by car, according to the latest figures from the Ipsos institute, at the end of May. Prices at the pump are therefore quite high in their concerns.

Especially since this summer the budget, purchasing power is a source of concern. An effective PR stunt therefore and which, as a bonus, does not cost much. For mass distribution, petrol is a loss leader. The margins are only 1, 2 or 3 cents. If you buy a 50-litre tank, for example, that’s 1.50 euros free. Suffice to say that it is a very limited loss while you are certain to attract consumers to your home. The idea behind it is to make up for it with the shopping they will do in your aisles. Moreover, Michel-Édouard Leclerc acknowledged this on Thursday on RTL: “My father used to say that you have to know how to lose money on one item and make money on the whole thing, it’s a whole.”

And of course his competitors will have to do the same. One of them admitted that it was “fair game”. Almost every summer, there are operations of this kind. Intermarché will offer the same reduction at the pump but it will be the weekend of July 26-27, according to information from Le Parisien, and on the side of Système U, there will be a response but rather for the weekends of the criss-cross, because it takes a little time to prepare this kind of promotion. Leclerc was the fastest and offers itself the primacy in this battle of communication but as a competitor noted, not everyone has the means, because Leclerc is number 1.

On the independent stations side, TotalEnergie is maintaining the cap on diesel and petrol at 1.99 euros all summer. The group, whose activity is not limited to France, is also carrying out a well-thought-out communication operation. On the other hand, we should not expect stations on motorways, for example, to follow suit. While some compare and adapt their itinerary depending on where it is cheapest to fill up, they are few. Very often on the motorway, we stop where we can, even if it is more expensive.