Who will lead the retail of tomorrow?
Who will lead the retail of tomorrow?
Who will lead the retail of tomorrow?
Laroze Partners · Sector Analysis · Retail & Distribution · June 2026
The era of the retail king, who rose slowly from the ground to operate a stable model, is drawing to a close. To transform, boards are now betting on other profiles. These bets can revive a brand or fracture it.
The sector in a few figures
200,000 m² | 79% | ×9 |
|---|---|---|
of retail space disappeared in French mass distribution in 2024. | Share of retail executives who believe that the balance of power is shifting in favor of retailers (private labels, consumer data) | Growth in revenue generated by Leroy Merlin's influence program between October 2024 and May 2025 |
Sources: Deloitte Retail Industry Global Outlook 2026, timeskipper, Républik Retail.
The end of the retail king
For decades, the retail executive built their career on the ground. They rose from the store to the headquarters, mastering merchandising, operations, and the physical network. They operated a model that changed slowly. This archetype built the big names of French retail, and it worked perfectly in a stable world.
That world has vanished. Retail spaces are contracting: nearly 200,000 m² disappeared in mass distribution in 2024, and the vacancy rate is close to 11%. Margins are eroding. Consolidation is accelerating to the point of becoming a matter of survival. In fashion, the Beaumanoir group absorbed Jennyfer and Naf Naf in quick succession, the Amoniss group assembled a consortium around Pimkie, Christine Laure, and Chevignon, and even Celio is relaunching Camaïeu. Integration is now the only viable response to eroding margins.
At the same time, artificial intelligence is moving from the experimental stage to operational deployment, and power is shifting to those who own the data and the customer relationship. In this context, operating well is no longer enough. Boards want to transform. And to transform, they are betting on other types of leaders.
Three bets boards are making today
What I observe in the market comes down to three figures, all responding to the same ambition of transformation.
The turnaround specialist. For struggling top lines, turnaround and restructuring profiles are appointed, tasked with reworking a vision and achieving performance again. Hanane Ennassiri, at the head of Saint-Maclou, initiated a strategic repositioning to relaunch the brand. The wave of consolidation amplifies this need: integrating acquired brands, merging cultures, and rationalizing without destroying brand value requires a very different profile from the traditional operator.
The profile from elsewhere. Thirteen years after launching ManoMano, its founders left their operational roles in favor of Loïc Derrien, an executive with a background at Vinci and Hilti, appointed CEO to accelerate B2B development. The logic is clear: import from other sectors, such as industry, tech, or consulting, a capacity for transformation and a fresh perspective that the sector does not always produce internally. Carrefour followed the same direction by creating an e-commerce, data, and digital transformation executive department, with the declared ambition of becoming a "Digital Retail Company."
The young visionary. In 2023, the Adeo group appointed Agathe Monpays, 28, as CEO of Leroy Merlin France, representing 144 stores and nearly 10 billion euros in revenue. Her mission: to continue the momentum toward a platform company for a positive home, centered around omnicommerce and energy renovation. The details matter: Monpays is not a parachuted profile. She climbed the ranks from sector manager to store manager, where she made her point of sale a pioneer in omnichannel transformations, before becoming an international managing director. A few months earlier, Kiabi entrusted its leadership to Ouarda Ech-Chykry, another executive of the same generation. Renewal is therefore not just about importing external profiles. It is also about elevating young leaders who carry an DNA of transformation, a vision, and CSR requirements.
The new levers these executives are deploying
These profiles utilize levers that retail kings rarely used: new concepts, pop-up stores, and commercial collaborations with creators capable of reaching communities that have long been out of reach for retailers.
Leroy Merlin provides the most accomplished illustration. Under the leadership of Anna Faure, who previously worked at La Redoute, the brand transformed influencer marketing into a true performance channel. The program attracted 840 candidates as of May 30, 2025, multiplied the revenue generated by 9 between October 2024 and May 2025, and achieved a return on investment multiplied by 21 in the first five months of 2025. The lesson is counter-intuitive: the best results do not come from the largest audiences. One of the top contributors generated 52,000 euros in commissions in six months with a conversion rate of 14.8%, without being a creator with a very large audience, but with a loyal, engaged, and responsive community. Picard, on its end, established a collaboration with Léna Situations after the creator spontaneously mentioned the brand.
What this says about the executive is essential. These levers require a leader who understands community, content, and data, not just merchandising and square meters. And they are professionalizing quickly: since January 1, 2026, a written contract has been mandatory as soon as the collaboration exceeds 1,000 euros excluding tax.
The real tension
Two forces are colliding. On one hand, the omnichannel logic that was the strategic banner of the previous decade is now mature. On the other, the wave of artificial intelligence and new technologies is reshaping operations, prices, supply chain, and customer relations.
Boards are renewing their governance to absorb this shock: generational renewal, more agile and competitive systems, and the integration of CSR on both environmental and social levels, no longer as a separate department but as a core component of the business model.
What I observe on assignments is that these appointments are bets, and the bet is rarely on competence alone. Boards want an executive capable of embodying a dynamic and carrying a vision, while delivering performance under margin pressure. The bet fails when the vision does not hold up against the reality of retail execution, or when the executive fails to quickly build credibility with teams shaped by a hands-on culture on the ground. It succeeds when vision, ground credibility, and transformation capability coexist in the same person. This combination is rare.
What this context demands of recruitment
Three things that boards systematically underestimate.
Credibility cannot be decreed. A profile coming from another sector, or a very young executive, must quickly win credibility with the ground teams. Without an internal sponsor and a deliberate credibility plan, even the best profile fails.
The vision must hold up against reality. Boards let themselves be convinced by a narrative. What matters is the ability to translate this vision into concepts, formats, and income statements in a industry where execution is ruthless.
CSR and performance are no longer separable. The executive must carry environmental and social commitments as an integral part of the model, not as a communication exercise. Assessing them requires looking beyond the rhetoric.
Recruiting these executives is not a traditional recruitment. It is a strategic bet whose consequences are measured over three to five years on the top line, the culture, and the brand.
What boards must remember
The retail executive of the next decade will not be the best operator of yesterday's model. It will be the one who knows how to hold three things at once: a vision that the board can believe in, a credibility that the teams can feel, and an execution that the market will judge.
Identifying this profile and creating the internal conditions for their success is where the real work begins. Boards that treat the appointment as a PR stunt discover the cost by the second year.
Laroze Partners — Executive Search Firm Retail · Health & Pharma · Tech · Consulting
Sources: Deloitte Retail Industry Global Outlook 2026 · LSA Conso · Républik Retail · EcommerceMag · Le Journal des Entreprises · timeskipper · decree n° 2025-1137 on commercial influence.
Laroze Partners · Sector Analysis · Retail & Distribution · June 2026
The era of the retail king, who rose slowly from the ground to operate a stable model, is drawing to a close. To transform, boards are now betting on other profiles. These bets can revive a brand or fracture it.
The sector in a few figures
200,000 m² | 79% | ×9 |
|---|---|---|
of retail space disappeared in French mass distribution in 2024. | Share of retail executives who believe that the balance of power is shifting in favor of retailers (private labels, consumer data) | Growth in revenue generated by Leroy Merlin's influence program between October 2024 and May 2025 |
Sources: Deloitte Retail Industry Global Outlook 2026, timeskipper, Républik Retail.
The end of the retail king
For decades, the retail executive built their career on the ground. They rose from the store to the headquarters, mastering merchandising, operations, and the physical network. They operated a model that changed slowly. This archetype built the big names of French retail, and it worked perfectly in a stable world.
That world has vanished. Retail spaces are contracting: nearly 200,000 m² disappeared in mass distribution in 2024, and the vacancy rate is close to 11%. Margins are eroding. Consolidation is accelerating to the point of becoming a matter of survival. In fashion, the Beaumanoir group absorbed Jennyfer and Naf Naf in quick succession, the Amoniss group assembled a consortium around Pimkie, Christine Laure, and Chevignon, and even Celio is relaunching Camaïeu. Integration is now the only viable response to eroding margins.
At the same time, artificial intelligence is moving from the experimental stage to operational deployment, and power is shifting to those who own the data and the customer relationship. In this context, operating well is no longer enough. Boards want to transform. And to transform, they are betting on other types of leaders.
Three bets boards are making today
What I observe in the market comes down to three figures, all responding to the same ambition of transformation.
The turnaround specialist. For struggling top lines, turnaround and restructuring profiles are appointed, tasked with reworking a vision and achieving performance again. Hanane Ennassiri, at the head of Saint-Maclou, initiated a strategic repositioning to relaunch the brand. The wave of consolidation amplifies this need: integrating acquired brands, merging cultures, and rationalizing without destroying brand value requires a very different profile from the traditional operator.
The profile from elsewhere. Thirteen years after launching ManoMano, its founders left their operational roles in favor of Loïc Derrien, an executive with a background at Vinci and Hilti, appointed CEO to accelerate B2B development. The logic is clear: import from other sectors, such as industry, tech, or consulting, a capacity for transformation and a fresh perspective that the sector does not always produce internally. Carrefour followed the same direction by creating an e-commerce, data, and digital transformation executive department, with the declared ambition of becoming a "Digital Retail Company."
The young visionary. In 2023, the Adeo group appointed Agathe Monpays, 28, as CEO of Leroy Merlin France, representing 144 stores and nearly 10 billion euros in revenue. Her mission: to continue the momentum toward a platform company for a positive home, centered around omnicommerce and energy renovation. The details matter: Monpays is not a parachuted profile. She climbed the ranks from sector manager to store manager, where she made her point of sale a pioneer in omnichannel transformations, before becoming an international managing director. A few months earlier, Kiabi entrusted its leadership to Ouarda Ech-Chykry, another executive of the same generation. Renewal is therefore not just about importing external profiles. It is also about elevating young leaders who carry an DNA of transformation, a vision, and CSR requirements.
The new levers these executives are deploying
These profiles utilize levers that retail kings rarely used: new concepts, pop-up stores, and commercial collaborations with creators capable of reaching communities that have long been out of reach for retailers.
Leroy Merlin provides the most accomplished illustration. Under the leadership of Anna Faure, who previously worked at La Redoute, the brand transformed influencer marketing into a true performance channel. The program attracted 840 candidates as of May 30, 2025, multiplied the revenue generated by 9 between October 2024 and May 2025, and achieved a return on investment multiplied by 21 in the first five months of 2025. The lesson is counter-intuitive: the best results do not come from the largest audiences. One of the top contributors generated 52,000 euros in commissions in six months with a conversion rate of 14.8%, without being a creator with a very large audience, but with a loyal, engaged, and responsive community. Picard, on its end, established a collaboration with Léna Situations after the creator spontaneously mentioned the brand.
What this says about the executive is essential. These levers require a leader who understands community, content, and data, not just merchandising and square meters. And they are professionalizing quickly: since January 1, 2026, a written contract has been mandatory as soon as the collaboration exceeds 1,000 euros excluding tax.
The real tension
Two forces are colliding. On one hand, the omnichannel logic that was the strategic banner of the previous decade is now mature. On the other, the wave of artificial intelligence and new technologies is reshaping operations, prices, supply chain, and customer relations.
Boards are renewing their governance to absorb this shock: generational renewal, more agile and competitive systems, and the integration of CSR on both environmental and social levels, no longer as a separate department but as a core component of the business model.
What I observe on assignments is that these appointments are bets, and the bet is rarely on competence alone. Boards want an executive capable of embodying a dynamic and carrying a vision, while delivering performance under margin pressure. The bet fails when the vision does not hold up against the reality of retail execution, or when the executive fails to quickly build credibility with teams shaped by a hands-on culture on the ground. It succeeds when vision, ground credibility, and transformation capability coexist in the same person. This combination is rare.
What this context demands of recruitment
Three things that boards systematically underestimate.
Credibility cannot be decreed. A profile coming from another sector, or a very young executive, must quickly win credibility with the ground teams. Without an internal sponsor and a deliberate credibility plan, even the best profile fails.
The vision must hold up against reality. Boards let themselves be convinced by a narrative. What matters is the ability to translate this vision into concepts, formats, and income statements in a industry where execution is ruthless.
CSR and performance are no longer separable. The executive must carry environmental and social commitments as an integral part of the model, not as a communication exercise. Assessing them requires looking beyond the rhetoric.
Recruiting these executives is not a traditional recruitment. It is a strategic bet whose consequences are measured over three to five years on the top line, the culture, and the brand.
What boards must remember
The retail executive of the next decade will not be the best operator of yesterday's model. It will be the one who knows how to hold three things at once: a vision that the board can believe in, a credibility that the teams can feel, and an execution that the market will judge.
Identifying this profile and creating the internal conditions for their success is where the real work begins. Boards that treat the appointment as a PR stunt discover the cost by the second year.
Laroze Partners — Executive Search Firm Retail · Health & Pharma · Tech · Consulting
Sources: Deloitte Retail Industry Global Outlook 2026 · LSA Conso · Républik Retail · EcommerceMag · Le Journal des Entreprises · timeskipper · decree n° 2025-1137 on commercial influence.
Laroze Partners · Sector Analysis · Retail & Distribution · June 2026
The era of the retail king, who rose slowly from the ground to operate a stable model, is drawing to a close. To transform, boards are now betting on other profiles. These bets can revive a brand or fracture it.
The sector in a few figures
200,000 m² | 79% | ×9 |
|---|---|---|
of retail space disappeared in French mass distribution in 2024. | Share of retail executives who believe that the balance of power is shifting in favor of retailers (private labels, consumer data) | Growth in revenue generated by Leroy Merlin's influence program between October 2024 and May 2025 |
Sources: Deloitte Retail Industry Global Outlook 2026, timeskipper, Républik Retail.
The end of the retail king
For decades, the retail executive built their career on the ground. They rose from the store to the headquarters, mastering merchandising, operations, and the physical network. They operated a model that changed slowly. This archetype built the big names of French retail, and it worked perfectly in a stable world.
That world has vanished. Retail spaces are contracting: nearly 200,000 m² disappeared in mass distribution in 2024, and the vacancy rate is close to 11%. Margins are eroding. Consolidation is accelerating to the point of becoming a matter of survival. In fashion, the Beaumanoir group absorbed Jennyfer and Naf Naf in quick succession, the Amoniss group assembled a consortium around Pimkie, Christine Laure, and Chevignon, and even Celio is relaunching Camaïeu. Integration is now the only viable response to eroding margins.
At the same time, artificial intelligence is moving from the experimental stage to operational deployment, and power is shifting to those who own the data and the customer relationship. In this context, operating well is no longer enough. Boards want to transform. And to transform, they are betting on other types of leaders.
Three bets boards are making today
What I observe in the market comes down to three figures, all responding to the same ambition of transformation.
The turnaround specialist. For struggling top lines, turnaround and restructuring profiles are appointed, tasked with reworking a vision and achieving performance again. Hanane Ennassiri, at the head of Saint-Maclou, initiated a strategic repositioning to relaunch the brand. The wave of consolidation amplifies this need: integrating acquired brands, merging cultures, and rationalizing without destroying brand value requires a very different profile from the traditional operator.
The profile from elsewhere. Thirteen years after launching ManoMano, its founders left their operational roles in favor of Loïc Derrien, an executive with a background at Vinci and Hilti, appointed CEO to accelerate B2B development. The logic is clear: import from other sectors, such as industry, tech, or consulting, a capacity for transformation and a fresh perspective that the sector does not always produce internally. Carrefour followed the same direction by creating an e-commerce, data, and digital transformation executive department, with the declared ambition of becoming a "Digital Retail Company."
The young visionary. In 2023, the Adeo group appointed Agathe Monpays, 28, as CEO of Leroy Merlin France, representing 144 stores and nearly 10 billion euros in revenue. Her mission: to continue the momentum toward a platform company for a positive home, centered around omnicommerce and energy renovation. The details matter: Monpays is not a parachuted profile. She climbed the ranks from sector manager to store manager, where she made her point of sale a pioneer in omnichannel transformations, before becoming an international managing director. A few months earlier, Kiabi entrusted its leadership to Ouarda Ech-Chykry, another executive of the same generation. Renewal is therefore not just about importing external profiles. It is also about elevating young leaders who carry an DNA of transformation, a vision, and CSR requirements.
The new levers these executives are deploying
These profiles utilize levers that retail kings rarely used: new concepts, pop-up stores, and commercial collaborations with creators capable of reaching communities that have long been out of reach for retailers.
Leroy Merlin provides the most accomplished illustration. Under the leadership of Anna Faure, who previously worked at La Redoute, the brand transformed influencer marketing into a true performance channel. The program attracted 840 candidates as of May 30, 2025, multiplied the revenue generated by 9 between October 2024 and May 2025, and achieved a return on investment multiplied by 21 in the first five months of 2025. The lesson is counter-intuitive: the best results do not come from the largest audiences. One of the top contributors generated 52,000 euros in commissions in six months with a conversion rate of 14.8%, without being a creator with a very large audience, but with a loyal, engaged, and responsive community. Picard, on its end, established a collaboration with Léna Situations after the creator spontaneously mentioned the brand.
What this says about the executive is essential. These levers require a leader who understands community, content, and data, not just merchandising and square meters. And they are professionalizing quickly: since January 1, 2026, a written contract has been mandatory as soon as the collaboration exceeds 1,000 euros excluding tax.
The real tension
Two forces are colliding. On one hand, the omnichannel logic that was the strategic banner of the previous decade is now mature. On the other, the wave of artificial intelligence and new technologies is reshaping operations, prices, supply chain, and customer relations.
Boards are renewing their governance to absorb this shock: generational renewal, more agile and competitive systems, and the integration of CSR on both environmental and social levels, no longer as a separate department but as a core component of the business model.
What I observe on assignments is that these appointments are bets, and the bet is rarely on competence alone. Boards want an executive capable of embodying a dynamic and carrying a vision, while delivering performance under margin pressure. The bet fails when the vision does not hold up against the reality of retail execution, or when the executive fails to quickly build credibility with teams shaped by a hands-on culture on the ground. It succeeds when vision, ground credibility, and transformation capability coexist in the same person. This combination is rare.
What this context demands of recruitment
Three things that boards systematically underestimate.
Credibility cannot be decreed. A profile coming from another sector, or a very young executive, must quickly win credibility with the ground teams. Without an internal sponsor and a deliberate credibility plan, even the best profile fails.
The vision must hold up against reality. Boards let themselves be convinced by a narrative. What matters is the ability to translate this vision into concepts, formats, and income statements in a industry where execution is ruthless.
CSR and performance are no longer separable. The executive must carry environmental and social commitments as an integral part of the model, not as a communication exercise. Assessing them requires looking beyond the rhetoric.
Recruiting these executives is not a traditional recruitment. It is a strategic bet whose consequences are measured over three to five years on the top line, the culture, and the brand.
What boards must remember
The retail executive of the next decade will not be the best operator of yesterday's model. It will be the one who knows how to hold three things at once: a vision that the board can believe in, a credibility that the teams can feel, and an execution that the market will judge.
Identifying this profile and creating the internal conditions for their success is where the real work begins. Boards that treat the appointment as a PR stunt discover the cost by the second year.
Laroze Partners — Executive Search Firm Retail · Health & Pharma · Tech · Consulting
Sources: Deloitte Retail Industry Global Outlook 2026 · LSA Conso · Républik Retail · EcommerceMag · Le Journal des Entreprises · timeskipper · decree n° 2025-1137 on commercial influence.
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CONTACT
Let's work together.
At Laroze Partners, we believe that recruiting a leader is a strategic, foundational, and engaging act. That’s why we have turned it into an art of precision: listening, intuition, method. We offer customized support over time for a real impact in service of the success of your executive teams.
CONTACT
Let's work together.
At Laroze Partners, we believe that recruiting a leader is a strategic, foundational, and engaging act. That’s why we have turned it into an art of precision: listening, intuition, method. We offer customized support over time for a real impact in service of the success of your executive teams.
CONTACT
Let's work together.
At Laroze Partners, we believe that recruiting a leader is a strategic, foundational, and engaging act. That’s why we have turned it into an art of precision: listening, intuition, method. We offer customized support over time for a real impact in service of the success of your executive teams.
