The managing director of buying group AMS, Bert Swartsenburg (pictured), has told ESM Magazine that the recent announcement by Dutch retailer Albert Heijn that it was to open stores in Belgium, and therefore go head to head with another AMS partner, Delhaize, should be left "up to the individual partners" to agree upon.
Both Ahold's Albert Heijn and Delhaize stock AMS products under the Euroshopper brand, and there were fears in the Dutch press that Albert Heijn's proposed move into Belgium would lead to tensions in the buying group, over possible territorial rights.
However, Swartsenburg has dismissed this, saying it was "up to the individual partners to share their strategy with the rest of the group. From an AMS point of view, both Delhaize and Ahold are very well-respected partners and we will continue to do our best to serve both of them. What they do on an individual level we tend to stay away from." (20 Dec)
© 2010 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine
