Italian grocery retailers Carrefour Italia, Gruppo VéGé and Gruppo PAM have established a purchasing alliance.
AICUBE, as the alliance is called, is an acronym of Associazione Imprese Internazionali Indipendenti and the three-year agreement will be valid exclusively in Italy, with each of the three founding partners holding an equal position.
The retailers that form AICUBE together boast a market share of 14.3% (according to Nielsen data for February 2018). It represents 5,179 stores across all Italian regions, and a combined turnover of €13.52 billion (2017 data).
Purchasing Goals
The immediate goal of the new purchasing centre is to define basic agreements with major suppliers, the identification of synergies regarding mainstream private label brands and the sharing of common policies with co-packers as regards private label brands.
Attention will also be given to sharing of industry of trends and consumption data, in order to generate growth. Particular importance will be placed in ensuring a new balance in commercial relations, protecting SMEs.
According to the executive director of Carrefour Italia, Stephane Coum, AICUBE will enable retailers to enhance Italian products both in Italy and abroad.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
