Purchasing Associations - a Model that has been working well in Italy for a long time

There are about 200 purchasing associations in Italy for the communal purchasing of goods. The groups are joined together in the network GAS (Gruppi D’Aquisti Solidali), and they attach importance to fair prices for the producers, and high-value, regional and fairly traded goods and organic products. Awareness of consumption, a critical approach to globalisation, a sustainable lifestyle and protection of the environment are issues that bind the network of purchasing associations together. GAS runs an informative internet site (www.retegas.org) and is represented in many big cities. Nearly 100 GAS-groups have been created in northern Italy. For example, Milan has more than 20 Gruppi d’Aquisti Solidali; Florence has about 15, and there are more than ten in Rome. GAS was created in 1994 - purchasing groups have a long tradition in Italy.

Picture: GAS Website

The GAS network has set itself the task of finding products that meet the criteria of communal purchasing and of establishing contact with producers. Information is made accessible to all linked purchasing groups.

Organic stores often regard the purchasing associations as competition, because they can offer their members favourable prices by buying direct from the producer and by buying in bulk from whole food wholesalers. Moreover, purchasing groups are very popular, because they are recommended by consumer associations, and they can be seen quite frequently in the media. GAS certainly promotes organic products and ecologically friendly agriculture. The organisation has high regard for organic products and makes its members, who join a purchasing association for the most varied of reasons, more aware of them. However, individual groups have their own individual character, and it is impossible to say what percentage of products is of organic origin.

In some cases, however, there is even cooperation between GAS groups and organic stores that is to their mutual benefit. The magazine Aam Terra Nuova reports a case where the members of the purchasing association collect their goods in the organic store and then buy any other items they want in the store. In this way the store has increased its turnover by 10-12 %, because the fact is that purchasing associations usually can only supply a limited range of goods, so that buying things in the organic shop is a good way of completing the shopping. In one location the purchasing association has led to the creation of a members’ shop, where members enjoy a rebate of 12 -20%. The shop is also open to non-members.

Conclusion: the Gruppi d’Aquisti Solidali is opening up the potential of customers with an affinity for organics. If cooperation between organic store and purchasing association can be established, it will be to the benefit of the retail trade.