Supermarkets Waitrose and Booths have announced plans to join forces in a new buying alliance.

The deal will take advantage of the many synergies between the two brands and will involve sharing cost prices and deal structures for branded food purchased by both supermarkets on a selected range of products. The alliance creates the potential for both businesses to benefit from greater economies of scale.

Booths has 26 stores based in the North of England, while Waitrose has 192 supermarkets in England, Scotland and Wales.

Mark Price, Waitrose Managing Director, said: 'There are already many similarities between the Waitrose and Booths brands in terms of our focus on food quality, the provenance of our products and customer service.

'This buying alliance will benefit customers of both Waitrose and Booths for the long term by ensuring that prices within both shops are highly competitive through greater supply efficiencies.'

Edwin Booth, Booths Chairman, added: 'Booths has a history of having sourced an outstanding range of quality food and drink for over 160 years. We are looking forward to the alliance between Waitrose and Booths enabling us to continue to trade strongly to the benefit of our customers.'