Homeplus joins European retailers' alliance
Homeplus CEO Im Il-soon, left, poses with Philippe Gruyters, managing director of European Marketing Distribution, after joining the retailers' alliance in Europe at the Panorama Resort & Spa hotel in Pfaffikon, Switzerland, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Homeplus
By Baek Byung-yeul
Homeplus has joined the European Marketing Distribution (EMD), the largest retailers' alliance in Europe, a move to increase its volume of global sourcing, the retail outlet operator said Thursday.
The country's leading outlet operator said this is the first time for an Asian supermarket chain to join the alliance. Established in 1989, the EMD is Europe's largest retail alliance.
By cooperating with the member companies, Homeplus is planning to sell high-quality products from European countries at low prices here.
“To offer more benefits to consumers and take the lead in global sourcing, we have pushed a plan to join the EMD, which is an unprecedented move for retail chains in Asia,” Im Il-soon, CEO of Homeplus, said in a statement.
“By expanding global sourcing, we are able to offer more benefits to our consumers and this could be a great opportunity for our local partners as they can expand their reach into European market via us.”
Homeplus said prominent supermarket chains from 20 countries both in and outside of Europe are members of the alliance. They include Markant of Germany, NorgesGruppen of Norway, Euromadi of Spain, ESD of Italy, Superunie of the Netherlands, Dagrofa of Denmark, Axfood of Sweden, Kaufland of Poland, Lenta of Russia and Woolworths of Australia.
The annual sales of its members are at 258 trillion won ($229.4 billion) and this is the second-largest volume following the U.S. retail giant Walmart. With its immense buying power, those membership chains can buy quality products in bulk and distribute them at low prices.
“It was not an easy decision for us to join hands with an Asian distributor for the first time, but we concluded that innovative movements Homeplus has shown will be helpful to European consumers,” Philippe Gruyters, managing director of the EMD, said in a statement.
As this is its first year as a member, Homeplus said it will try to build up a firm cooperative relationship with the membership companies and plan to bring grocery products such as cereal, beer, pasta, as well as other products like batteries, within 2019.
“Cereal products will be the first item we will come up with for Korean consumers. They will be up to 40 percent cheaper than cereal products here,” Homeplus said adding it will increase its volume of global sourcing to 1 trillion won by 2021.