Switzerland-based buying group European Marketing Distribution AG (EMD) has announced a partnership with Australian retailer Woolworths, taking the group Down Under for the first time.
Woolworths will use EMD to source volume for its private label range, for its approximate 1,000 stores in Australia and more than 180 in New Zealand.
Considerable Benefits
"The integration of procurement volumes in high demand and customer-oriented marketing activities brings considerable benefits for both the trading and the manufacturing sector,” said EMD managing director Philippe Gruyters.
“Our commitment in the Oceanian countries of Australia and New Zealand reinforces the importance of EMD and sets a new standard regarding the dynamic commercialisation of all products in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) ranges.”
EMD said in a statement that the relationship with Woolworths relates initially to private label sourcing only. It added that the agreement is ‘profitable for each and every member of EMD: additional and interesting opportunities for procurement of goods overseas are created for the European trading companies already belonging to the group alliance’.
Maximise Investment
Steve Greentree, director of Woolworths Food Company, said that the “agreement will provide a direct network for Woolworths’ Australian and New Zealand suppliers to maximise investment and growth opportunities with European retailers.”
UK retailer Asda, Germany hypermaket specialist Globus, and Kaufland’s operations in the the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria, are among the high profile retailers to join the EMD buying group in recent years, with the group now present in 20 European countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand.
Headquartered in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, EMD now represents a worldwide turnover of €216 billion.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
