Bella swallows Adeg – the brand remains

Rewe’s sister company Billa merges with Adeg and establishes a joint wholesale division — called “Wholesale and Merchants” — under the oversight of former Adeg board spokesman Brian Beck.

However, the company announced on Friday that the Adeg branding will be retained. A Roy spokesman said Friday, at APA’s request, that Adeg’s workforce “will not be up for discussion” as part of the restructuring.

Organizationally, Adeg will continue as a separate unit in Billa’s new wholesale division – “with independent sales, category management, marketing and store fit-out,” the press release states. Jürgen Olinger, a former Adeg board member, will be in charge of the unit and will be responsible for Adeg wholesale, Adeg dealers and co-op partners.

“With this step, we are strengthening, consolidating and unifying our wholesale activities under one responsibility. Wholesale business in Adeg and, in the future, Billa merchants will be taken care of from a single source,” said Marcel Harasti, President of Rewe International, as reported on Friday.

At the same time, in the course of the integration, Billa has begun to introduce the merchant model already used in Adeg. By the end of the year, there should be Bella’s first dealers. The switch to the merchant model is of course taking place on a voluntary basis, the spokesperson said, and both concepts will exist in parallel. Existing Billa branches or new locations can then be managed by independent merchants in the future.