Singapore – US e-commerce giant Amazon has made further inroads into food retail in France as Casino’s upmarket Monoprix chain became the first local retailer to agree to sell groceries via Amazon.
Future cooperation could extend beyond France. The French move, which is set to shake up the competitive local food retail market, lifted Casino shares as much as 9.7 per cent in morning trade amid speculation that it could lead to a bigger deal later on.
Amazon’s purchase of the bricks-and-mortar retailer Whole Foods Market Inc for US$13.7 billion (S$17.9 billion) last year, and a deal for Amazon Prime to sell products from the British supermarket chain Morrisons, raised expectations that it would bid for a retailer or form a partnership in France.
