Auchan Retail France

The consumer goods industry is facing increasing challenges, including shifting consumer expectations, the demand for seamless omnichannel experiences, and the growing need for personalization. To stay competitive, industry leaders like Auchan must continuously innovate. In this context, digital transformation has become essential for streamlining operations and meeting market demands.

Auchan is one of France’s top food retailers and ranks among the ten largest worldwide. In 2022, it placed 16th globally in terms of sales and 2nd in France, just behind Carrefour. The company operates across a wide range of sectors, including hypermarkets, supermarkets, real estate, banking, e-commerce, and home furnishings and decor.

In 2018, Auchan was facing several challenges, particularly within its accounting department. Communication systems were outdated, document processing lacked efficiency, and collaboration between central services and stores was inconsistent.

The accounting department relied on a range of disparate tools, making system integration difficult and hindering the ability to obtain a consolidated view of financial data. This fragmentation also increased the risk of inconsistencies and highlighted the need to automate certain activities, especially the handling of non-standard events. Many processes remained manual, time-consuming, and prone to error, underlining the urgent need to modernize through the adoption of innovative solutions.

Auchan was receiving between 30,000 and 35,000 supplier-related documents each month, emphasizing the critical need for centralization and efficient tracking. Responding promptly to frequent supplier inquiries about document status was also essential. This situation often led to friction between central departments and stores, making it vital to establish a streamlined, unified communication channel.

Communication was mostly conducted via email or outdated workflows, complicating exchanges, causing delays, and increasing the risk of information loss.

The Automation Factory initiative was launched by Auchan's Data department with the ambition of adopting innovative solutions to master its applications and anchor the group in a digital transformation. As part of this initiative, and to address the growing need to streamline internal processes, Auchan chose Dassault Systèmes' BPM solution, ITEROP.

To deploy the solution, Auchan opted for a progressive and iterative approach, starting with simple processes before enriching them later. This strategy enabled a smooth transition to modernized accounting operations, facilitating rapid adoption across all departments and stores.

To centralize accounting data, all entries are now transferred to the BPM solution via a standardized form, accessible to the team. The added value lies in the consolidation of data from the various accounting tools into a single, easy-to-understand form for the various professions.

Customized forms make exchanges between the accounting department and the stores faster and more fluid. The formalization of procedures has also structured communication. Accounting processes are now initiated by the store administrative correspondents or by the accounting department, offering flexibility and autonomy.

The solution has also been extended to meet the needs of other departments, such as HR, Purchasing, Marketing and Sales.

The digitization of processes has significantly accelerated communication between the accounting department and stores. Customized forms have reduced errors and enabled more structured, cross-functional collaboration.

Centralized performance indicators have provided precise activity tracking, helping measure goal achievement, detect inefficiencies, and improve responsiveness in decision-making and approval workflows.

Since the implementation of ITEROP, the solution has become the sole communication channel between the stores and the central accounting department, replacing various and often outdated methods such as e-mail. The time needed to respond to suppliers regarding the status of their documents has drastically reduced, from hundreds of hours to just 3, reducing irritants and fostering a more serene relationship between teams.

Following its successful adoption in accounting, the solution has expanded to address broader business needs in human resources, purchasing, marketing, and sales.

Overall, the BPM solution has brought tangible improvements to the teams’ daily operations:

Auchan’s Automation Factory has already designed and deployed over 100 workflows. As part of its ongoing commitment to continuous improvement, the company plans to keep expanding the use of ITEROP by implementing new processes and responding to evolving user needs, aiming for even greater efficiency and user satisfaction.