Italian retail group Auchan-Sma has announced it will join the C3 purchasing consortium from 1 November.
The alliance, whose goal is to jointly negotiate purchases, will cover all national delivery contracts starting from 2016, leading to joint purchases of nearly €9 billion.
The existing purchasing body of Auchan-Sma, on the basis of the purchasing mandate already in place with retail chains Crai, Sisa and their partners, through this alliance with C3 will strengthen its position, establishing itself as a major purchasing power in Italy.
Auchan is present in 12 regions of Italy with 60 hypermarkets (49 directly operated and 11 franchised) and 10,000 employees, with 2014 sales reaching €2.9 billion.
Sma, present in Italy since 1961, currently has around 9,000 employees and 1,500 supermarkets in the formats Simply, Ipersimply and PuntoSimply, including 269 directly managed, while the majority are affiliates. In 2014 Sma posted revenues of €4 billion.
The C3 consortium includes 18 member companies with 27 distribution centers, 16 Cash & Carry stores, 12 hypermarkets, 193 supermarkets and 164 convenience store.
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
