Comptoir National de l'Or

What Comptoir National de l'Or does

Comptoir National de l'Or is a French precious-metals dealer founded in 1976, operating as a hybrid physical-and-digital retailer that buys, sells, and appraises physical gold, silver, platinum, and palladium for individual consumers across metropolitan France. The business is operated through Gold Trade SARL, a single-member limited liability company headquartered in Strasbourg, and runs over 100 owned/franchise 'Comptoir' branches nationwide alongside the gold.fr transactional website. It self-describes as the French leader in retail gold buying and selling, having served over 800,000 customers cumulatively, with revenue generated from the spread between buy and sell prices on coins, bars, bullion, jewelry, dental gold and scrap gold, plus a small premium-over-spot disclosure range (0%–6.68% depending on product).

The technology backbone is a Django/Python web platform developed by elax, providing real-time precious-metal pricing tied to international quotations (NYC and London PM), online transaction capture, branch management, a customer price-alert service, and an at-home appointment booking flow. The product catalogue spans gold bars (1kg down to 5g 'lingotins'), 1-ounce bars, and an internationally recognized coin set (French Napoléon 20 Frs, South African Krugerrand, British Sovereign, Swiss Vreneli, Mexican 50 Pesos, US $5/$10/$20, Canadian Maple Leaf, and others), plus silver, platinum and palladium bars and silver coins (Maple Leaf, Philharmonic, Kangaroo, Britannia, American Eagle). A differentiated product is the Carte GOLD.fr Visa, a Visa-branded payment card backed by a physical gold balance, supported by native iOS and Android apps. Complementary services include free jewelry and watch buyback appraisal, at-home expert visits (Maison à domicile), gemmologist-led expertise days for signed/stoned pieces, and currency exchange at select locations.

Distribution is direct-to-consumer through a 100+ branch retail network, the gold.fr e-commerce storefront, at-home valuation visits, and a franchise onboarding program (devenir-partenaire). Marketing relies heavily on earned media — recurring appearances on TF1, M6, France 5, Le Monde, RTL, Les Echos and BFM TV, plus podcast appearances by President Laurent Schwartz — alongside a content hub of 4,000+ articles on gold.fr, an email newsletter, and Google customer reviews at the branch level. The offering sits inside a French regulatory framework where gold investment is VAT-exempt under Article 298 sexdecies A of the Code général des impôts, AML identity verification is mandatory, and services are explicitly reserved for persons physically residing in metropolitan France. Headcount per firmographics is 11–50 at the central entity, indicating that the broader branch workforce is largely employed through franchisees rather than the SARL directly.

Name

Comptoir National de l'Or

Legal name

Gold Trade SARL

Website

https://gold.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1976

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Comptoir National de l'Or is France's leading retail precious-metals dealer, operating 100+ physical branches and the gold.fr online platform to buy, sell, and appraise physical gold, silver, platinum, and palladium for individual French consumers since 1976.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Precious Metals Trading

NAICS

Jewelry Retailers (45831), Jewelry, Watch, Precious Stone, and Precious Metal Merchant Wholesalers (42394)

SIC

Retail-Jewelry Stores (5944), Wholesale-Jewelry, Watches, Precious Stones & Metals (5094)

akta.pro primary industry

Precious Metal Jewelry (Gold/Platinum/Silver) (CRAKAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Pre-owned Fine Jewelry Dealers (CRAKAKAC), Fine Jewelry Wholesale & Trading (CRAKAAAL)

Keywords

• Gold trading
• Precious metals
• Bullion sales
• Jewelry buyback
• Investment gold

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Precious metals buy/sell transactions (Or, Argent, Platine, Palladium): Revenue is generated through the spread between buying and selling prices of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in physical form (coins, ingots/bullion, jewelry, dental gold, industrial gold). Transactions occur at both physical Comptoir branches and via the gold.fr online platform. Prices are based on official international market quotations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Comptoir National de l'Or is a French precious metals dealer that buys and sells physical gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in the form of coins, bars, and jewelry. The company operates through a national network of more than 100 branches across France and an online platform (gold.fr), serving individual investors and consumers seeking to acquire or liquidate precious metal holdings.

Product overview

Comptoir National de l'Or operates as France's leading gold and precious metals dealer, offering a comprehensive product portfolio centered on physical gold investment through multiple formats: large gold bars (Lingot d'Or 1kg), smaller gold ingots (Lingotin from 500g down to 5g), and 1-ounce gold bars. The company also trades a wide range of gold coins including French Napoléon 20 Frs, South African Krugerrand, British Sovereign, Swiss Vreneli, and Mexican 50 Pesos. Beyond gold, the offering extends to silver bars and coins (Maple Leaf, Philharmonic, Kangaroo, Britannia, American Eagle), platinum bars, and palladium bars. Complementary services include jewelry and watch buyback with free professional appraisal, home visit expertise services, real-time market pricing, price alert notifications, and the innovative Carte GOLD.fr Visa—a payment card backed by physical gold. The company operates over 100 physical branches across France alongside its online platform at gold.fr.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Carte GOLD.fr Visa: A Visa card backed by physical gold, offered as an innovative payment and investment product.

Products and services

• Gold Buying and Selling

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 800,000 customers served since founding
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• BullionVault: UK-based online platform for buying and selling allocated physical gold, silver, platinum, and palladium stored in professional vaults. Comparable as a digital precious-metals competitor targeting European retail investors, though focused on allocated vault ownership rather than take-home bullion.
• Gold Avenue: Swiss online precious-metals platform owned by MKS PAMP GROUP, offering gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins and bars with vault storage across multiple jurisdictions. Comparable as a digital-first precious-metals retailer in the broader European market, though it operates without a French physical-branch network.

Direct peers

• Godot & Fils: Paris-headquartered French precious-metals dealer offering gold, silver, and platinum coins and bars with a strong physical counter presence on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Directly comparable as a French competitor with overlapping bullion and jewelry-buyback offerings.
• Or en Cash: France-based gold-buying specialist with a multi-agency physical footprint, focused on jewelry buyback and bullion sales to retail customers. Directly comparable on physical branch model and target customer base.
• BDOR: French online gold and precious-metals retailer offering coins, bars, and investment-grade gold with secure storage and delivery. Comparable as a French competitor in the same precious-metals retail category.
• A&E Finance: French precious-metals dealer (formerly Ailhaud) with a Lyon-based physical presence and online platform offering gold, silver, and platinum investment products. Comparable on product mix and French retail-customer orientation.
• CPoR Devises: One of the most established French gold- and precious-metals buying/selling specialists with a multi-branch physical network across France. Directly comparable on product mix (coins, bars, jewelry buyback), target customer (French retail investors), and channel structure (physical counters plus online).
• AuCoffre: French online platform specializing in physical gold and silver investment with vault-storage options. Comparable as a French precious-metals specialist competing for the same retail-investor segment, though its distribution is digital-first rather than branch-led.

Regional players

• Degussa Goldhandel: Germany's leading specialized precious-metals dealer with a network of branches and an online platform offering gold, silver, platinum, and palladium products. Comparable as a direct European peer in the same precious-metals retail category, but operating primarily in Germany rather than France.
• Coininvest: European (Germany-based) online precious-metals retailer offering gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins and bars from mints worldwide. Comparable as a European digital competitor in the precious-metals category, though without French physical-branch presence.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/comptoirnationaldelor_gold.fr
• Xx.com/goldfr

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Comptoir National de l'Or