{"id":37436,"date":"2019-02-08T21:17:41","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T21:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/02\/08\/military-stores-launch-effort-to-boost-their-buying-power-and-their-customers-savings\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:13:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:13:39","slug":"military-stores-launch-effort-to-boost-their-buying-power-and-their-customers-savings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/pay-benefits\/2019\/02\/08\/military-stores-launch-effort-to-boost-their-buying-power-and-their-customers-savings\/","title":{"rendered":"Military stores launch effort to boost their buying power \u2014 and their customers\u2019 savings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Commissary and exchange<\/a> officials will start buying more products together, with the idea that increased-volume buying could reap bigger savings for military customers at all the stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effort will start with health and beauty items, and electronics, officials said. Commissaries <\/a>and exchanges all sell health and beauty items; all the exchanges sell electronics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chief executive officers of all the military stores signed an agreement Jan. 31 that provides guidelines for a buying alliance involving retail merchandise and any other items sold by two or more of the organizations \u2014 Defense Commissary Agency<\/a>, Army and Air Force Exchange Service; Coast Guard Exchange; Marine Corps Exchange and Navy Exchange Service Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bulk buying has been one of the factors that has fueled the success of discount stores like Walmart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The military exchanges<\/a> have had partnerships in many areas previously, such as the private label products program offered by the exchange stores, and the Military Star card. They\u2019ve also had some working agreements with the commissary agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There aren\u2019t yet any ballpark estimates of savings that might be passed on to customers. And while there\u2019s no timeline for when customers might see the first fruits of these efforts, \u201cthe exchanges and commissary are fully focused on immediate execution of this initiative to secure benefits as quickly as possible,\u201d said Courtney Williams, spokeswoman for the Navy Exchange Service Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\t