PARIS, March 27 (Reuters) - Shares in French supermarketretailer Casino surged higher on Tuesday after itsMonoprix grocery store chain agreed to sell products via Amazon, in a deal that will reverberate throughout the Frenchfood retail industry.
Casino shares were up 5.1 percent at 39.46 euros in earlysession trading, as some traders and analysts speculated thatthe initial partnership with Amazon could lead to a bigger deallater on.
Casino and Amazon said late on Monday that groceries sourcedfrom Casino's Monoprix supermarket division will be available inthe Amazon Prime Now app and website through a dedicated virtualstore.
"Who knows if this partnership may be the first sign of acloser collaboration in future between the two companies," saidTangi Le Liboux, analyst at French brokerage Aurel BGC.
Casino's deal with Amazon also follows a deliverypartnership signed last year with UK online retailer Ocado.
Since Amazon agreed last year to buy grocery chain WholeFoods Market Inc for $13.7 billion, expectations that it couldfocus next on Europe have spurred French retailers to try andimprove their own online offerings.
Leclerc, France's biggest food retailer by market share,privately held operator Systeme U and Casino were all linked inrecent months with Amazon, which has steadily been building itspresence in France. It has run its Amazon Prime Now deliveryservice in the French capital since 2016.
Casino's rival Carrefour also announced in Januarya 2.8 billion euros ($3.5 billion) investment in digitalcommerce over the next five years.
($1 = 0.8019 euros)(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta;Editing by Dominique Vidalon)
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