Italian retail cooperative Coop Alleanza 3.0 has signed a franchising deal that will enable it to expand its presence in the Puglia and Basilicata regions.
The agreement, with Barletta-based Tatò Paride, will result in 110 supermarkets changing their banner from Sigma to Coop Alleanza 3.0.
This process that should be concluded by March and involve all the provinces in Puglia and the municipality of Matera.
Building A Presence
The cooperative already has a presence in the two southern regions of Italy with its own 12 directly-managed stores.
These include a Coop supermarket in Bari and Ipercoop hypermarkets in (Japigia, Pasteur e Santa Caterina), Molfetta, Brindisi, Andria, Barletta, Foggia, Taranto, Lecce and Matera.
The new outlets are mostly of the neighbourhood store format, ranging from 250 to 1,500 square metres in size.
Coop Alleanza 3.0 already operates a number of other successful franchising agreements in Italy, the most significant of which is in Calabria, as part of its efforts to develop the Coop brand also in the south of the country.
Private Label Expansion
The development comes as Coop has announced the expanded its private label offering with 137 new SKUs including fruit juices, pizza and wines.
The Vivi Verde label now includes orange, apple and carrot juice SKUs, produced with 100% Italian organic fruit and vegetable juice without the addition of sugar, while the Solidal range has been expanded with pineapple and mango juice.
Elsewhere, new additions to the Fior Fiore wine selection at the retailer include a Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Docg and three red wines: Chianti Classico DOCG from Rocca delle Macie, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Dop from Illuminati Winery and Etna Rosso Doc from Firriato.
© 2019 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.
