Lenta becomes a member of European purchasing alliance EMD | Progresiv

Lenta, one of the largest retail chains in Russia, has joined EMD, Europe's leading purchasing alliance. The Company is the only Russian retail chain to benefit from membership of the world's largest FMCG purchasing network.

Lenta joins the alliance as a full member and will also become a shareholder. This allows the Company to fully benefit from contracts sourced by the alliance's negotiations, including those with producers of high-end brands. Joint procurement with other large European retailers will enable Lenta to offer its customers access to an even broader range of quality products at affordable prices, while also providing a new impetus to the on-going development of Lenta's private labels.

Lenta's Chief Executive Officer Jan Dunning commented: 'We are pleased to join EMD as its exclusive Russian member. Above all, our membership of the alliance will enable us to enhance the breadth of our private label range through effective procurement of value-for-money products from international producers. In addition, our purchasing activities within EMD may potentially open an extra sales channel for Russian suppliers of Lenta's private label products to access the European market.'

European Marketing Distribution is a major association of FMCG retailers and trading companies, headquartered in Switzerland. The alliance brings together retailers from 20 European countries, including ASDA, Kaufland, Euromadi, Axfood, Superunie, and over 250 other retail chains. The alliance's mission is to facilitate joint procurement of food and non-food products for its members. EMD consolidates the buying power and promotion opportunities for retailers, providing them with additional benefits of generating savings in the supply chain and streamlining logistics. EMD members have a combined turnover of over 216 billion euros, with a total selling space of 41 m sq.m.

Lenta is the largest hypermarket chain in Russia and the country's fourth largest retail chain. The Company was founded in 1993 in St. Petersburg. Lenta operates 214 hypermarkets in 79 cities across Russia and 71 supermarkets in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and the Central region with a total of approximately 1,282,520 sq.m of selling space. The average Lenta hypermarket store has selling space of approximately 5,700 sq.m. The average Lenta supermarket store has selling space of approximately 900 sq.m. The Company operates seven owned distribution centres.

The Company's price-led hypermarket formats are differentiated in terms of their promotion and pricing strategies as well as their local product assortment. The Company employed approximately 40,400 people as of 30 June 2017. (www.publicnow.com)