Système U To Join CORE Buying Group

French grocery chain Système U today announced that they are to join one of the major strategic reta…

French grocery chain Système U today announced that they are to join one of the major strategic retail buying alliances in Western Europe, CORE.

The independent group will join four other European retailers - Colruyt from Belgium, Italy’s Conad, Coop from Switzerland and Germany's Rewe Group - and become part of the new buying strategy from 1 January 2015.

"We are pleased to welcome Système U as a new alliance partner. This will strengthen our European partnership and will contribute to further deepening of our cooperation," said Gianluigi Ferrari, CORE's general manager.

The existing four Core members had a joint 2013 turnover of €106 billion. Including Système U, the group will active in 18 countries through more than 23,000 stores.

"The partners have formed an alliance that gives an answer to the growing challenges of competition in Europe and the increasing internationalisation of food retailing," Alain Caparros, chief executive of Rewe said earlier this year.

"Through joint purchasing, we want to offer all of our customers even better prices."