Media Markt and Makro will buy together

“Purely back office collaboration”

Electronics chain Media Markt and department store group Makro, both subsidiaries of German trade group Metro Group, plan to purchase together. The focus will be on electronics and other products they both sell.

Makro confirmed the news, but says it is merely “a first step towards a possible purchase collaboration” and it will obviously “only consist of products that it shares with Media Markt”. They are currently only listening to what the market has to say and firstly the suppliers. In any case, it would “purely be a back office collaboration” without “any particular timing or deadline”.

Jorg Snoeck: “Logical step”

RetailDetail’s founder, Jorg Snoeck, feels the collaboration is “a logical step. Media Markt has found the right path and is the market leader in its own branch. It fits Metro CEO Olaf Koch’s new strategy to consolidate that position with other brands in the group, like Makro, which should help cut costs and is a good way to keep prices low”.

“Retailers nowadays have to create a centralized model which eliminates as many of the middlemen as possible in order to be able to offer the customer the lowest price possible. In that sense, this collaboration is a natural evolution”, Jorg Snoeck added.

Metro Group’s latest results show that Metro Cash & Carry (to which Makro belongs) was flat, while Media-Saturn did experience turnover growth.