The partnership was announced as part of the two groups’ strategy of developing a leading omni-channel offering, and will cover commercial, marketing, logistics and data.

Thierry Petit and David Dayan, Co-Founders of Showroomprive, commented: "We are pleased with this partnership with Carrefour. It allows us to enter a new stage after the agreement with Conforama, in partnership with one of the world's leading retailers. It allows us to continue building our omni-channel offering and opens up unprecedented opportunities."

Alexandre Bompard, Carrefour's CEO, added: "This partnership is a new step in the acceleration of our digital strategy, in an omni-channel approach. It also allows Carrefour to enter the online private sales market and strengthen its offering.”

Carrefour's equity investment in Showroomprive will take the form of an off-market acquisition of the block of shares owned by Conforama at price of 13.5 euros per share, for a total amount of 79 million euros. An additional payment will be made by Carrefour to Conforama should Carrefour launch a takeover bid for Showroomprive within eighteen months of the completion of the  transaction. This additional payment will be equal to the difference between the offer price per share made by Carrefour and the acquisition price (13.5 euros), multiplied by the number of shares sold by Conforama. Upon completion of the transaction, Carrefour will replace Conforama in the current shareholders’ agreement between the founders of Showroomprive and Conforama, under an agreement whose main terms are identical to the existing pact between the founders and Conforama / Steinhoff. The founders will retain 27.17% of the capital and 40.42% of the voting rights. Carrefour will hold 16.86% of the capital and 13.67% of the voting rights.

A global leader in food retail, Carrefour operates more than 12 000 stores and e-commerce sites in more than 30 countries. Carrefour is a multi-local, multi-format and omni-channel retail group, operating in more than 30 countries, with a network of more than 12 000 stores and ecommerce sites, employing more than 384 000 people worldwide and generating total sales of 103.7 billion euros under its banners in 2016.

Showroomprive.com is an European player in the online private sales industry, specialized in fashion and with over 28 million members in France and other European markets.