Spar International has announced that it is appointing Wouter Lefevere as its new head of international buying.
Lefevere will be based in the company’s head office in Amsterdam. He will be responsible for the buying of products as well as supplier relationships and negotiations, working in close co-operation with partners worldwide.
In addition, Lefevere will also lead the company’s new 'Buying Better Together' strategy, which will focus on collaboratively working with partners and suppliers in the areas of own brand development, warehouse and logistics, supplier partnerships and analysis and marketing.
Tobias Wasmuht, managing director of Spar International, said, “Buying better together internationally is a key pillar of the scope of services provided to our partners, and the appointment of Wouter signals our intention to further enhance this scope".
Buying Experience
Lefevere has plenty of experience in international buying. Before this appointment, he held a number of senior buying and commercial development roles for Lidl in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
“As a partnership of independent retailers and wholesalers, Spar International doesn’t adopt a traditional transactional supplier-buyer relationship with our Spar partners, but takes a collaborative approach," added Wasmuht.
“We offer resources and buying services to our partners to help them grow their business. Wouter and his team will work to grow joint buying volumes of Spar partners and the penetration of Spar International own brands, as well as facilitate the pooling of buying volumes of FMCG brands.”
Spar has 12,545 stores across 44 countries. It recently reported sales of €33.1 billion for 2016.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
