European purchasing group Epic Partners has lost its only Italian member – supermarket chain Esselunga, according to media reports.
The latest exit follows the departures of French retailer Super U in September 2024 and Swedish retailer ICA Gruppen in March 2024.
In autumn of 2022, Esselunga joined Epic Partners and its exit is not expected to have a major impact as it only operates around 150 outlets in Italy.
According to several sources, including German portal Lebensmittel Zeitung, the departure was initiated by Epic Partners and the reasons for Esselunga's exit remain undisclosed.
This latest departure, combined with the others, represents a significant reduction in purchasing power for the Geneva-based group, potentially impacting around €50 billion of annual turnover.
Epic Partners had previously cited a lack of collaboration as the reason for excluding certain members.
Epic Partners
Despite these setbacks, Epic Partners still boasts major members like Edeka (Germany), Jerónimo Martins (Portugal, Poland, Colombia), Picnic (The Netherlands, Germany, France), Migros (Switzerland), Jumbo (The Netherlands, Belgium), and Aura Retail (France, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Spain, Luxembourg, Romania, and Hungary) totalling an estimated €140 billion in combined annual sales.
In 2022, the purchasing group suspended the membership of Russia’s Magnit due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Epic Partners, established in 2021 by the German retailer Edeka, facilitates collaboration among its members by allowing them to negotiate and formalise agreements on complementary international services and sales activities.
This partnership also creates opportunities for manufacturers to expand their growth by accessing new sales markets.
Last September, Epic Partners expanded to include Aura Retail, a French alliance formed by Intermarché and Auchan. Edeka accounts for just under half of the total turnover of Epic Partners.
