Waitrose, owned by John Lewis Partnership, and independent supermarket group Booths have forged a buying alliance.

The deal will allow the pair to exploit synergies and benefit from greater scale economies. Waitrose and Booths said the arrangement “will involve sharing cost prices and deal structures for branded food purchased by both supermarkets on a selected range of products.”

Waitrose managing director Mark Price said: “There are already many similarities between the Waitrose and Booths brands in terms of our focus on food quality, 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.”

Waitrose has 192 stores nationwide and Booths has 26 in the north of England.