France’s competition watchdog is reviewing a pair of retailer purchasing alliances – Aura and Concordis – formed in the past two years.
L'Autorité de la Concurrence said it will seek to establish whether the alliances bring any harm to competition, including upstream and downstream, and from a consumer viewpoint.
Third parties have been invited to offer comments on any competition conflicts by 6 March for Aura and 31 July for Concordis.
Aura was the first of the two alliances to be launched, featuring French grocers Intermarché, Auchan and Casino. They formed the purchasing cooperation agreement in 2024 for branded and private-label consumer goods.
Last year, Aura also joined the wider European purchasing groups Everest and Epic Partners. Edeka, Picnic and Système U are part of the former while Esselunga and Migros feature in the latter.
Concordis was initially launched last year for branded products between France’s Carrefour and Coopérative U, with Germany’s alliance group RTG International joining in August. It is due to get off the ground this year.
RTG International represents several German retailers including Rossmann, Globus, and Bartels-Langness, along with Bünting, Netto, and Kaes.
Under French government regulatory codes, the country’s competition body said it will “carry out a competitive assessment of each of these alliances and, where applicable, of the international structures in which they participate”.
Major retailers are forming purchasing alliances to pool resources and obtain better commercial conditions from suppliers, according to the watchdog.
It said “several competitive risks in upstream and downstream markets” have already been identified, hence the request for third-party comments.
L'Autorité de la Concurrence explained: “The competitive assessment will examine the effects of the agreements under review, firstly, on the upstream market for the supply of consumer goods and, secondly, on the downstream market for the retail distribution of predominantly food products.
“In parallel, the impact of these alliances on the end consumer will be examined, particularly any potential price reductions in downstream markets.”
The upstream review will look into risks around supply limitations for consumer goods, any deterioration in quality and “reduced incentives for suppliers to innovate or invest”.
Around the downstream retail distribution of goods, a particular focus will be on the “risks of coordination between actors and standardisation of purchasing conditions”.
Aura has already made some concessions to L'Autorité de la Concurrence around medium-sized enterprises, or ETIs as it quantifies them, according to a separate statement issued in November.
“The alliance occupies a significant position in the market for the supply of consumer goods and differs from other similar buying alliances, insofar is the scope of suppliers is broader, including a significant proportion of medium-sized companies,” the watchdog explained.
As a consequence, Aura agreed to exclude ETIs.
