Published on July 8, 2013 by Cyril André in franchise-magazine.com

"Starting in 2014, the specialist materials retailer will be able to rely on a purchasing group. This structure will offer all Bigmat members an efficient, unified purchasing process.

One of the major advantages that members look for in a group organization is to have sufficient collective purchasing power to be able to negotiate the best terms with their suppliers. With this in mind, Bigmat France has just announced the launch of a purchasing group, a new legal structure called gaBi (groupement d'achat BigMat). This new grouping, operational from January 1, 2014, is based on a centralized system at national level that will take into account the specific features of each of the network's sales outlets. In particular, this system will enable the implementation of a national sales plan and the involvement of suppliers in the brand's sales strategy. In 2014, the gaBi group will have three founding members. BigMat specifies that the aim is to extend the number of group members to all the cooperative's members by 2017. At the same time, the specialist materials trading group is continuing to expand in France. One of its members, Etellin Matériaux, has just taken over the Sogemat Matériaux group, which operates nine sales outlets in Auvergne. BigMat now has 109 members with a total of 336 sales outlets in France. The group has 820 units in Europe. "