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According to EY-Parthenon's 2025 nationwide study of 12,000 French consumers, Action, Leroy Merlin, and Decathlon rank among the most preferred retailers in France. 8 of the top 10 brands have held their position consistently for over 3 years, making them reliable predictors of sustained foot traffic around their locations.
Who are France's favorite retailers in 2025?
The Enseignes Préférées des Français 2025 ranking is produced annually by EY-Parthenon, based on a nationwide consumer study of more than 12,000 French adults evaluating nearly 200 retail brands across all sectors on recent customer experience.
Here are the top 10 for 2025:
7 of these 10 brands are Mytraffic clients.
Why does ranking stability matter for retail location strategy?
8 of the top 10 brands in 2025 have held their position for more than 3 consecutive years. That kind of consistency is rare in consumer preference research, and it's commercially significant.
Anchor stores don't just attract shoppers. They shape entire retail ecosystems. A brand that reliably draws thousands of visitors per week, month after month, generates what location analysts call "spill traffic": visitors who arrive for one store and spend time, money, or attention at nearby businesses.
The most cited effect in retail geography research is the "anchor tenant effect," documented in multiple studies on shopping center performance. According to a 2022 study published on arXiv analyzing 600+ neighbourhoods in Greater London, anchor stores cause a 14.2 to 26.5% increase in customer traffic to nearby non-anchor stores, depending on the anchor's category and proximity.
Stability matters because you can plan around it. A brand that has ranked in the French top 10 for 3+ years is not a trend. It's infrastructure.
What kind of foot traffic does each anchor generate?
Not all top-ranked retailers generate the same type of visitor flow. Understanding the traffic profile of each anchor is what turns a ranking into a usable signal for site selection.
High-frequency anchors (Action, Picard, E.Leclerc, McDonald's) generate consistent daily and weekly footfall. Visitors come often and stay briefly. Businesses that benefit most from proximity to these anchors are those that convert on impulse or convenience: bakeries, pharmacies, dry cleaners, mobile operators.
High-dwell anchors (Ikea, Leroy Merlin, Decathlon) attract visitors who plan their trip, stay for extended periods, and often travel specifically for the store. Dwell time at Ikea locations in France regularly exceeds 90 minutes. These anchors create strong demand for food and drink before, during, and after the visit. Roadside restaurants, cafés, and fast-casual dining concepts within 500 meters of an Ikea typically outperform comparable units in non-anchor locations.
Destination anchors (Grand Frais, Fnac Darty) attract customers willing to travel further and make a deliberate trip. These visitors have high purchase intent and moderate dwell time. Complementary categories that do well nearby: kitchen and home accessories, consumer services, specialty food.
How can you use anchor store data to choose a retail location?
The most common mistake expansion teams make is evaluating a site based on its own foot traffic figures alone. The stronger question is: who is already coming to this area, why, and what are they not finding?
Anchor stores answer that question. If an Action and a Leroy Merlin share a retail park, you already know the visitor profile skews toward households, value-oriented shoppers, and project-driven buyers. A pet supply store, a budget optician, or a quick-service restaurant concept fits that ecosystem naturally. A luxury furniture brand does not.
With Gini by Mytraffic, expansion teams can run this analysis for any location in France. The Site Selector workflow identifies the anchor brands already operating in a zone, measures their actual footfall, and surfaces the demographic and behavioral profile of visitors. The Expansion Planner then compares that profile against your existing network to flag which zones represent genuine white space.
The output is not a dashboard. It's a recommendation: open here, avoid there, and here's why.
Frequently asked questions
What is an anchor store in retail?
An anchor store is a major retailer, typically a well-known brand, that generates significant independent foot traffic and increases the commercial attractiveness of surrounding locations. In France, brands like E.Leclerc, Ikea, and Decathlon are considered anchor stores because their visitor volumes and loyal customer bases consistently drive spillover traffic to nearby businesses.
Which retailers generate the most foot traffic in France?
Based on the EY-Parthenon 2025 consumer preference study, the top foot traffic generators among preferred French retailers include Action, E.Leclerc, McDonald's, and Decathlon, due to their high visit frequency and broad customer demographics. Ikea and Leroy Merlin generate fewer but longer visits, making them strong anchors for food and service businesses nearby.
How do I know if an anchor retailer is driving traffic near my site?
The most reliable method is to measure actual footfall data at the location, segment it by origin zone, and compare it against the anchor's visitor profile. Gini by Mytraffic's Data Explorer lets you do this for any address in France, using real mobility data across 10 million analyzed locations at 10-meter accuracy.