Carrefour and Tesco call time on alliance
© Kjpargeter, Freepik (modified)
Carrefour and Tesco are to end their purchasing alliance, according to a Reuters report. In a joint statement, the companies said that“they have decided not to extend their purchasing alliance beyond the three-year operational framework agreed in 2018.”
While Britain’s exit from the European Union is not believed to have been the event that triggered the end of the deal, the context has however made things more complex. The alliance formally ends on December 31st 2021, and the groups will now focus on opportunities independently.
The purchasing agreement aimed to allow Carrefour and Tesco to cut prices, by demanding better terms from food suppliers such Nestle, Procter & Gamble or Unilever, and expand ranges of their own-label products.
In December 2020, France’s antitrust authority imposed stricter conditions on the purchasing alliance, saying it “risked weakening” small suppliers of private labels.
