Auchan renews contract with DHL

European supermarket operator Auchan Retail has renewed its contract with DHL Global Forwarding for the management of its inbound supply chain operations. As part of the renewal, DHL International Supply Chain will continue to provide purchase order and vendor management, origin consolidation and destination coordination services.

Auchan Retail is the second largest supermarket operator in France, present in 16 countries in Western, Central & Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa with 3,836 hypermarkets and convenience stores.

DHL currently manages more than 17,000 TEUs yearly for Auchan from origin countries such as China, Vietnam and Bangladesh to 14 destination countries including France, Russia and Senegal.

“Our dual dedicated control tower structure – Hong-Kong at origin and Dunkirk in France, at destination – remains a key factor of successful coordination of day to day operations with customer’s teams in Asia and France; it ensures on-time arrivals of Auchan’s shipments using the most cost effective mode. DHL’s dedicated account management team holds the relationship with Auchan and drives the supply chain development agenda,” said Pascal Zakarias, Head of Operations DHL International Supply Chain France.

Auchan Retail International’s Head of Operations Catherine Hennart added: “Auchan has benefited from the partnership with DHL for nine years now and we want to continue benefiting from their experience which will help us maintain our position in the retail market by allowing us enhanced visibility on our processes and continued reductions on operating costs thanks to DHL International Supply Chain’s constant effort.”