Auchan Logo PNG
Auchan is a French holding company operating in the retail sector. Auchan-group stores offer a wide range of products adapted for consumers of every income level. Today the company, founded in the early 1960s, has about 4 thousand outlets in 17 countries and an annual turnover of more than €50 billion. Interestingly, for the entire history of the company, Auchan shares have never been traded on the stock exchange, and 90% of them are still owned by the family of the founder, Mulliez.
Meaning and history
The Auchan retail chain is the brainchild of the French Mulliez family. The company was founded in 1961 by Gerard Mulliez, who was born in May 1931 in the town of Roubaix. Gerard’s father had a textile production, which almost went bankrupt during the war. However, Mulliez Jr. wanted by all means to revive the family business and went to university, but he failed to finish it. Having analyzed the French market, Gerard Mulliez decided to change the sphere of activity and engage in the food trade.
Gérard Mulliez opened his first store in partnership with Michel Segar. It was Phildar, occupying a 600 square meter space. However, it only lasted one year, and the store had to close. Then Gérard decided to try a new format of trade – a hypermarket. Mulliez was inspired by a trip to America, where you were the first to see huge shopping areas with the widest range of products.
Gerard returned to his homeland and managed to convince his father of the prospects of his new idea. Thus, Mulliez Jr. was given a large loan and three years to repay it.
Gerard spent part of the money received from his father to buy out his partner’s share so that the new business was owned exclusively by the Mulliez family. The rest of the money the businessman invested in the creation of a new French trade market. Thus, in 1967 in the town of Roubaix the first Auchan was opened with an area of 12 thousand square meters, with a well-equipped parking lot and a large assortment of goods.
The company’s name, Auchan, means “Upper Fields”, which is the name of the neighborhood in Roubaix where the first store was opened. The name is also consonant with the French “au chant”, which translates as “bird’s trill”, which is supported by the image of a bird on the brand’s logo, the dawn bird.
1967 – 1983
The original logo of the Auchan company was designed in 1967 and stayed unchanged for more than 15 years. It was a bright red uppercase sans-serif lettering accompanied by a minimalistic emblem, composed of a stylized capital “A” in red, inscribed into a thin blue roundel. Both elements were placed on a plain white background without any other details.
1983 – 2015
The redesign of 1983 introduced the Auchan badge, which is still used by the company for its stores in some countries today. The bold geometric lettering in solid red has a graphical element inscribed into the largest character, the “A”. It is a stylized red bird with intense green contouring, overlapping the letter and replacing its horizontal bar.
2015 – Today
The redesign of 2015 has changed the typeface of the Auchan lettering, making it more elegant and chic. The bird was also slightly redrawn, with its head and body gaining a smooth contour and a more tender look. The shades of both red and green got a bit lighter and more vivid, creating a friendlier mood for the whole badge.
2018 – Today
In 2018 the Auchan logo was simplified by removing green from its color palette. The shapes and contours of all elements remained untouched, yet the red hue intensified and brightened up, making the laconic Auchan badge look more powerful and professional. The logo is used today by some of the chain’s stores along with the one, designed in 2015.
Font and color
The bold title case lettering from the primary logo of the Auchan company is set in a modern sans-serif typeface with elegant contours of the characters. The most similar commercial fonts to the one, used in the Auchan insignia, are, probably, Taz Wide ExtraBold, Annuario Wide Bold, or Engel New Sans Bold with some minor modifications of the contours.
As for the color palette of the Auchan visual identity, the main color is bright red, which is a symbol of confidence, strength, and professionalism. In earlier versions of the badge, red is accompanied by an intense green hue, which signifies growth, life, and well-being in general.
