Polish retail groups Grupa Eurocash, Grupa Chorten, and Netto have announced plans to establish a local joint-venture buying alliance in order to join European Marketing Distribution (EMD) AG, Europe’s leading buying alliance.
As members of EMD, the Polish retailers will be able to increase their European sourcing capabilities, generating “significant savings” from their supply chain.
The three retail groups have a combined market presence in Poland of approximately 20,000 stores, with a turnover exceeding €12bn. Subject to the merger clearance from the Polish competition authority and establishment of the Polish joint-venture company, the new members will join EMD’s joint sourcing of private label products and have access to cross-border services and marketing concepts in partnership with multinational brand manufacturers from 2026.
Pawel Surowka, Eurocash’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are extremely pleased to become a member of the strong and partnership-based EMD community. EMD offers us many product ranges and marketing instruments which will enable us to further accelerate our customer-oriented growth in the Polish market.”
Philippe Gruyters, Managing Director of EMD, added: “The new EMD membership of the Polish buying alliance opens up new sourcing opportunities for it and our existing members. With the Polish buying alliance joining our international on-top business, we can further expand our strong offering in the very dynamic Polish market.”
EMD, which is headquartered in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, has member companies in Europe and Asia, representing a turnover of approximately €200m in 16 countries. Its members include:
| Austria: MARKANT | Netherlands: Superunie |
| Belgium: Colruyt | Norway: Unil/NorgesGruppen |
| Czech Republic: MARKANT | Portugal: EuromadiPort |
| Denmark: Dagrofa | Slovakia: MARKANT |
| France: Francap | South Korea: Lotte |
| Germany: RTG International | Spain: Euromadi |
| Italy: ESD Italia | Sweden: Dagab/Axfood |
| Luxemburg: Colruyt | Switzerland: MARKANT |
In addition to South Korea and Japan, associate member Lotte is also active in the Vietnamese and Indonesian markets.
NAM Implications:
- As can be seen, the three retailers are proposing to link up…
- …in expectation of increasing their European sourcing capabilities…
- …generating “significant savings” from their supply chain.
- i.e. increasing their buying muscle.
- Time for suppliers to check out any potential pricing & terms disparities.
- And harmonise asap…
