FRANKFURT, Germany - German retailer Metro and French Groupe Auchan agreed to cooperate on purchasing in hopes of reaping significant efficiency gains in the medium to long term, Metro said on Thursday.

The two companies will from next month jointly negotiate with some international suppliers of branded consumer products to combine their purchasing power, Metro said.

In addition, they plan to jointly buy non-food products around the world that each of them will resell under its own brand labels or as no-name labels.

Electronic consumer products are excluded from these two agreements, Metro said.