Effective immediately: French purchasing group Francap starts pooling procurement of their strong private label brands under the international umbrella of the EMD Alliance (FOTO)

As a result, French consumers can now enjoy even more attractive private label product ranges in the affiliated Francap shops - and suppliers in France gain new and valuable access to the global sales markets of the EMD retail alliance.

In order to clarify the dynamics for all the stakeholders involved, it is worth taking a closer look at the networked structures. Francap, which has been operating successfully in France for over 60 years, has 10 members-retailers that currently represent 2,215 outlets in France and are particularly successful with customers when it comes to local shopping, offering a full range of products.

Francap is recognised in France as a reliable purchasing organisation for supermarket chains such as Coccinelle Supermarché, Diagonal, G20 and Colruyt. Colruyt France, one of the major Francap members, is already operating 102 supermarkets in France.

Francap also supplies well-established local supply specialists such as Rapid’ Market, Sitis, Epi Service, Votre marché, Panier Sympa, Viveco and Marché Minut’.

Including the revenues of Colruyt France, the Francap Group represents a cumulated consumer turnover of 3.5 billion euros.

High-performance own brands form the focus of the collaboration

The primary objective of the collaboration recently initiated by Francap under the aegis of the EMD alliance is the joint procurement and marketing of high-performance private labels. These products are experiencing increased popularity in the discerning French food market. The Francap Group already has a range of well-established own brands (such as Belle France, Les Délices de Belle France and Ecoprix), while EMD can enrich the product range of its new purchasing partner Francap with its large portfolio of highly sought-after private labels under the EMD Eurolabel.

The cooperation between Francap and EMD concerns only private label products: no collaboration on the international marketing nor procurement of A-brand products is in the scope of the collaboration.

Numerous new initiatives have emerged in the goods sector, offering mutual benefits.

The networking of all the aforementioned partners has triggered a number of significant developments, particularly for French retail customers, who now have an even more appealing selection of very good and always affordable private labels at their disposal. The combined professional expertise of Francap is incorporated into EMD's international product group tenders by the joint purchasing teams. EMD itself is opening up a new route into the French food market for international own-brand manufacturers, while French manufacturers can look forward to new opportunities in EMD's intercontinental distribution area.

EMD, which celebrated its 35th anniversary in the past 2024 together with all its members and partners from industry and trade, will remain a particularly reliable and cooperative partner in the international procurement and marketing market also in the new year 2025.

About EMD:

European Marketing Distribution AG, headquartered in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, has been recognised in the consumer goods industry as an efficient and powerful partner for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) since 1989. In particular, it develops and procures highly efficient and sustainably produced private label concepts for the benefit of consumers. The EMD head office also supports and realises global partnerships in the area of on-top agreements with the largest brand manufacturers.

In 2024, EMD announced new memberships in Germany (RTG International) and in South Korea (Lotte). Woolworths Australia left the cooperation end 2024.

Including the associate member Lotte from South Korea, the EMD member companies in Europe and Asia currently represent an external retail consumer turnover of approx. 200 billion euros in 16 countries.

The member companies of European Marketing Distribution (EMD) are active in the following markets:

Austria: MARKANT
Belgium: Colruyt
Czech Republic: MARKANT
Denmark: Dagrofa
France: Francap
Germany: RTG International
Italy: ESD Italia
Luxemburg: Colruyt
Netherlands: Superunie
Norway: Unil/NorgesGruppen
Portugal: EuromadiPort
Slovakia: MARKANT
South Korea: Lotte
Spain: Euromadi
Sweden: Dagab/Axfood
Switzerland: MARKANT

In addition to South Korea and Japan, associate member Lotte is also active in the Chinese, Vietnamese and Indonesian markets.