ROMANIA: Metro and Auchan join forces for brands purchasing | Progresiv
Local trade consolidates even more: Metro Cash & Carry and Auchan Romanian subsidiaries have announced they are joining forces for goods purchasing. The agreement has impact on negotiations with the main suppliers for 2016. The two chains have started international cooperation in November 2014 and an agreement for joint procurement in France was recently announced. 
“In accordance with national legislation, Metro Group entrusts the Auchan procurement division, through a mandate system, negotiations of purchasing conditions applicable in 2016 for a selected and representative number of categories and suppliers, covering the most important brands in Romania”, states a press release by Auchan Romania. In the joint purchasing, the focus will be on international and national brand products and the retailer said that small and medium sized suppliers are not affected by this agreement, which came into force in September 2015.
In Romania, the French group Auchan is present with 33 hypermarkets with sales of about 4 billion lei in 2014 while the German Metro Cash & Carry chain had a turnover of almost 4.5 billion lei in 2014 and operates 31 cash & carry stores aimed at professional customers, mainly resellers and HoReCa operators.
