The joint buying power of the military exchanges and commissary enables these organizations to offer lower prices and negotiate vendor markdowns on the products they sell.

The Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM), Marine Corps Community Services (MCX), Coast Guard Exchange (CGX) and Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) formed the buying alliance to reduce the cost of goods to save their customers money. The alliance helps to lower prices on existing buys and increase access to new deals.

The military resale leaders credit the alliance for strengthening commissary and exchange benefits, explaining, “Building on various cooperative initiatives, joint buying has proved to be a big win for the entire military community. Joint buying lowers prices for authorized shoppers.”

To accomplish the $75 million in savings, the alliance leveraged its buying intelligence to lower prices by $45 million on goods in several departments including health & beauty and electronics. Another $30 million cost of goods savings was achieved by identifying special buys with vendors.

The joint buying alliance was critical during the COVID-19 pandemic as shipments of essential items were prioritized. As a result, the military resale community had a higher in-stock rate on vital merchandise such as paper products and cleaning supplies than other retailers.

Moving forward, the alliance is leveraging its private label brands to further enhance the exclusive savings found at commissaries and exchanges, including several military-exclusive laptops. The alliance will apply successful cooperative disciplines to other relevant merchandise categories to generate additional savings for the military community.