From Voluntary Groups to Franchise

The French voluntary group, Catena, dealing in hardware and leisure goods, was founded as long ago as 1953; it has about 1,000 shops throughout France. It was not until 1970, however, that the group moved over to a franchise system, offering Catena merchandise and various services to the member shops. Some aspects of how the group now functions were described at the World Conference on Distribution by Marc Goguet and are summarised here.