AgeCore

As retail alliance AgeCore breaks up, a movement of alliances in food retail is imminent. This could lead to a further spread of unfair trading practices in the EU, brand manufacturers fear.

The future of European retail alliance AgeCore is highly uncertain now that German supermarket chain Edeka is cancelling its membership. One of the reasons is a lawsuit in France about possible abuse of power. 

In France, the buying centres of Intermarché are accused of "abusive commercial practices". The Ministry of Economy is taking the distributor to court, thereby potentially undermining the operation of alliances such as Agecore. 

Alliances between large food retailers do not have a harmful impact on agricultural prices, nor do they cause higher sales prices to consumers, a new research report by the European Commission concludes.

Belgian supermarket chain Colruyt is taking a stand against one of its biggest suppliers: empty spaces on the beverage shelves are appearing where products from Coca-Cola used to be. This is the result of an escalating conflict between the soft drinks producer and European purchasing alliance Agecore. What is going on in the background?

There is still no solution in the dispute between purchasing group Agecore and brand manufacturer Mars. More products will become unavailable at Colruyt and other members. Elsewhere in Europe, new conflicts are brewing.

Since February, members of purchasing group Agecore are putting pressure on brand manufacturer Nestlé to enforce better purchasing conditions. The conflict seems to escalate: the number of references that disappear from the shelves continues to rise.