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Tesco and Carrefour plan 'strategic alliance' to buy products | Tesco and Carrefour plan 'strategic alliance' to buy products |
(35 minutes later) | |
Tesco and France’s Carrefour are teaming up to buy products over the next three years, a move the supermarket groups claim will lead to greater choice and lower prices for customers. | |
The three-year strategic alliance between Britain’s biggest grocer and Europe’s largest retailer will cover the relationship with global suppliers and the joint purchasing of own-brand goods. | |
Tesco and Carrefour say they aim to improve the quality and choice of products in their supermarkets and sell them at even lower prices. Each company will continue to work with their suppliers at a local and national level. | |
The move could lead to more camembert, wine and other French products being sold in Tesco stores, and more British products in Carrefour supermarkets, though details have yet to be finalised, according to a Tesco spokeswoman. | |
Both retailers are under pressure, as Amazon has moved into traditional grocery retailing with the acquisition of Whole Foods. | |
It introduced its online food delivery service, Fresh, in the UK last year after signing a wholesale deal with the British supermarket Morrisons. Amazon also opened its first checkout-free grocery store, known as Amazon Go, in Seattle, Washington, in January. | |
Under the alliance, to be formally agreed within the next two months, Tesco and Carrefour could also reduce their costs by clubbing together to buy petrol for delivery vans, as well as services such as legal services and accounting. | |
The Tesco chief executive, Dave Lewis, said: “By working together and making the most of our collective product expertise and sourcing capability, we will be able to serve our customers even better, further improving choice, quality and value.” | The Tesco chief executive, Dave Lewis, said: “By working together and making the most of our collective product expertise and sourcing capability, we will be able to serve our customers even better, further improving choice, quality and value.” |
The Tesco spokeswoman said a “clean team” would be established between the two companies, to ensure they did not see each other’s pricing or other commercially sensitive information. | |
It is the first such cross-border purchasing partnership involving a major UK retailer. The deal comes just days after France’s Auchan Retail, Casino Group and Schiever Group teamed up with Germany’s Metro, internationally and in France. | It is the first such cross-border purchasing partnership involving a major UK retailer. The deal comes just days after France’s Auchan Retail, Casino Group and Schiever Group teamed up with Germany’s Metro, internationally and in France. |
Neil Wilson, the chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: “An entente cordiale between the two giants of British and French retailing is yet another sign that squeezing the cost base is the biggest priority for supermarkets as they seek to contain the discounters and protect margins. | Neil Wilson, the chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: “An entente cordiale between the two giants of British and French retailing is yet another sign that squeezing the cost base is the biggest priority for supermarkets as they seek to contain the discounters and protect margins. |
“On both sides of the Channel, rising costs are putting pressure on margins. Meanwhile every retailer is looking over their shoulder at Amazon and the potential disruption is could still cause in the grocery sector.” | |
In January, Carrefour announced plans to cut costs and jobs, beef up investment in e-commerce and seek a partnership in China. | |
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