Markant Belux proceeds from the Bloc buying group and aims to supply the Belux countries with robust private labels and services.
The Bloc Group, from which Markant Belux proceeds, has its roots in Belgium and for more than 70 years has been operating not only in Belgium, but also in Holland, Luxembourg and France. For more than 30 years, it has specialised in private labels.
Markant and the Bloc Group are old acquaintances
Markant and the Bloc Group have collaborated in the past because in the 1990s, Markant was a member of the group. Chris De Meirsman has been the managing director of the newly established Markant Belux since early June. He makes the following comments on the Markant Group: "One notes quickly that this is a very large company that can draw on many years of experience. At the same time, it is apparent that the company is in a constant state of development and that there are so many new projects. We quite appreciate the vibrant environment within Markant."
In the middle of 2019, a general agreement was concluded between the board of directors of the Bloc Group and the Markant management in order to integrate Bloc's private labels into the Markant Group, namely at ZHG and the bulk consumer specialist Intergast.
Another priority for Bloc was to find a suitable solution for the employees – this fit well with Markant's plans to expand in the Belux region with an experienced team. Now, the entire Bloc team will be under contract at Markant Belux. And Markant is also purchasing the building where the Bloc Group is established.
Changeover to the private labels of ZHG and Intergast
The Bloc contracts are currently being transferred to the private labels of ZHG and Intergast. Furthermore, the new international label 'My Price' is being created, which is based on 'Jeden Tag'. At Intergast, the 'Cuisine Noblesse' will now also feature product information in Dutch and French. In Belux countries, this is a statutory requirement and also applies to the new 'My Price' products. In the future, the Markant Belux team will further assume responsibility for the coordination between the partners and the Markant teams in the area of private labels.
Markant Belux has an entirely paper-free system: all contracts and accounting have been digitised. Partners and employees have access via cloud-based solutions. During the coronavirus lockdown, all divisions thus found their work out of the home office simplified.
The aim is to complete the transfer of Bloc private labels to Markant by the end of the year, with as many products as possible made available under the 'My Price' label. In this way, the process of offering services like ECS and EDI to suppliers and retailers has begun.