Foundation of the Unione Volontaria A&O

1964. The Italian A&O Voluntary Union was founded by a group of wholesale food companies joined forces. Within a few years, the group of affiliated companies grew to become a series of rationally-organized distribution centres. The Voluntary Union subsequently converted into a consortium: Consorzio A&O Italiano.
1979. The Consortium set up Selex Gruppo Commerciale, an open-ended association whose policy of welcoming new members helped its expansion throughout the whole country. The founding of the Consortium marked a great step forward, as it allowed not only a greater cooperation and a fuller exchange of knowledge among members, it also reinforced the importance of a Central Purchasing Alliance, which now became increasingly specialized in marketing and services.
1984. Twenty years have passed since the foundation of the A&O purchasing alliance and the wholesale distribution system in Italy has made great strides through innovation and loyalty to a  self-service sales model.
By now, Selex has consolidated its strategy by operating as an open-ended multichannel sourcing alliance. On its 20th anniversary, it opens the new headquarters in Trezzano sul Naviglio, near Milan. In the meantime, the member companies have launched the first “Famila” stores, an innovative type of hypermarket selling both food and non-food products, which marked a pioneering move into the large-scale retail sector.
1990. At the beginning of the ’90s, it became increasingly clear how much important was for Selex Group members to expand. Over the decade, companies fully carried out their potential by expanding and building new hypermarkets, superstores and shopping centres.
Major advances also took place in private label activity and the Selex brand became a quality guarantee for at least  500 products.
2000. The first decade of the new century were years of growth and major breakthroughs. In 2001 the Group joined, together with Esselunga, Agorà Network and Acqua&Sapone, the ESD Italia Purcahsing Alliance. By 2004, 40 years after its foundation, Selex  became the fifth largest market distribution group in Italy with a turnover of € 6 billion, a market share of 7.4%, and a customer base of two million. The sales network consists of 2,583 outlets with a total of one and a half million square metres of modern commercial surface.

Today, one of Italy’s industry leaders

The Selex Group is the third largest sourcing, sales and distribution organization in Italy. In addition to the Famila, A&O and C+C brands which have a nationwide distribution, Selex also has a presence via a large number of retail trade names that are deeply rooted in their local realities. As in the past  Selex is synonymous with good customer service. In modernizing its sales outlets, constantly improving its range of products and enhancing the quality of its customer service, Selex continues to observe the same key principle putting the customer always at first place. This is  the secret of its success. With 3,254 sales outlets up and down the country, turnover of €8.5 billion in 2009 and over 30,000 employees, the Selex Group is today one of the top marketing and distribution groups in Italy (Source IRI).