WELWYN GARDEN CITY, UK and BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT, FRANCE - After announcing their intentions to enter into a “long-term, strategic alliance” this July, Tesco and Carrefour—two of Europe’s largest supermarket chains—have made it official. This Monday, August 6, 2018, the two companies confirmed that they have entered into a formal agreement—with the alliance to become operational in October of this year.
“I’m delighted to be entering into a strategic alliance with Carrefour,” said Dave Lewis, Tesco Group Chief Executive Officer, in the companies’ original announcement. “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.”
According to that joint announcement, the two companies’ alliance will cover the strategic relationship with global suppliers and the joint purchasing of own brand products and goods not for resale.
According to a Reuters report, the partnership will help the companies to secure a better deal from the likes of Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Danone, and others to help the French and British groups to compete on price with other global retailers like Amazon, Aldi, Lidl, Walmart, and in the UK, the newly-merged Sainsbury’s and Asda. Carrefour and Tesco have combined annual sales of $170 billion.
“This strategic alliance between Carrefour and Tesco is a major agreement as it combines the purchasing expertise of two world leaders, complementary in their geographies, with common strategies,” Alexandre Bompard, Chairman and CEO of Carrefour Group. “This agreement is a great opportunity to develop our two brands at the service of our customers. This international alliance further strengthens Carrefour allowing it to reach a key milestone in the implementation of its strategy.”
The agreement will be governed by a three-year operational framework.
How will this alliance between global retailers play out? AndNowUKnow will continue to report on this and other important industry news.
