Intermarché, Auchan and Casino have announced the formation of the Aura Retail alliance, aimed at enhancing their long-term purchasing partnership.
The alliance includes five operational structures to bolster the groups' influence in commercial negotiations, and foster innovation and development with long-standing partners.
For food purchases, the alliance will comprise three units managed by Intermarché.
The first unit, Aura Retail Achats Alimentaires, will focus on purchasing synergies for 200 national brand fast-moving consumer goods manufacturers.
This Massy-based unit will be led by Emmanuel Lavit as chairman and Frederic Lecoq as CEO.
Aura Retail International Food Services, the second unit, will handle negotiations with major multinational industrial groups, aiming to create synergies across European countries in which the partners operate.
This Brussels-based company will be managed by Jean-Baptiste Berdeaux, chairman of the board, and CEO Olivier Mercier.
For European food manufacturers, the Aura Retail Private Label structure will offer more efficient market access through joint tender offers by the three groups.
Based in Massy, France, it will be managed by chairman Emmanuel Lavit, operating director Jérôme Dumont and general secretary Corinne Aubry-Lecomte.
Non-food items will be addressed by Aura Retail International Non-Food Services, which will market services to multinational non-food manufacturers.
Arnaud Bricmont, its board chairman, and its CEO Dimitri Proskurovsky will lead the Luxembourg-based company.
Aura Retail Achats Non-Alimentaires will provide harmony to the 100 largest manufacturers offering national non-food brands.
The company, based in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France, will be led by Stéphane Boennec as chairman and Isabelle Saluden as CEO.
The existing Organisation Intragroupe des Achats central purchasing unit, a subsidiary of Auchan, will handle private-label non-food purchases for Intermarché and Casino, expanding its scope through joint tender offers.
The alliance is structured to comply with competition laws and regulations, ensuring each partner maintains independence in their commercial strategies and store network development.
The partnerships have been submitted for approval to competition authorities and employee representative bodies.
In July 2024, Groupe Casino reported a 3.5% decrease in net sales on a same-store basis to €4.19bn ($4.53bn) in the first half of fiscal 2024, down from €4.45bn in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
