Intermarché a large French grocery retailer organized as a membership of independent grocery store owners. Although the members ("adherents" under French law) are technically independent businesses Intermarché is tightly managed. The adherents are obliged to follow the initiatives of headquarters and face restrictive contracts that make it difficult to exit the Intermarché network. The chain is fraught with internal frictions. A prime reason is that many of its adherents feel that management is sacrificing their interests as retailers to a higher priority-production.
Intermarché was among the first French grocers to integrate backward into food production and has done so aggressively. One of the average store's sales are of house brands, a fraction that has grown steadily Some observers(and some adherents) question whether consumers abandon Intermarché stores because they cannot find their preferred brands. Some adherents also feel that management has diverted resources into production that should be going into matters more immediately relevant to a store owner, such as marketing, merchandising, and store renovation. For example, Intermarché has the largest fishing fleet in Europe and proudly trumpets that distinction to its members. This precisely what many adherents resent. One adherent comments that the decision to backward integrate into fishing.