* Deal follows months of speculation in French retail sector
* Monoprix-Amazon seen similar to Amazon-Morrisons deal
* Shares surge, move seen as paving way for bigger tie-up(Adds analysts comments, Monoprix boss comment, background)
By Dominique Vidalon and Sudip Kar-Gupta
Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods Market Inc for
Shares in supermarket operator Casino were up 4.1 percent at
Casino and Amazon said late on Monday that groceries sourcedfrom Monoprix will be available in the Amazon Prime Now app andwebsite through a dedicated virtual store.
Asked if this partnership paved the way to other deals withAmazon, Monoprix CEO Regis Schultz told Reuters: "We will havethe opportunity to talk about it".
Monoprix is one of
"Capital light and profitable growth for Monoprix. Monoprixbecomes a marketplace offer on Amazon Prime Now," said Bernsteinanalyst Bruno Monteyne.
"Monoprix does the picking in store of the order. Amazontakes care of all deliveries. The deal structure seems similarto the Morrisons deals," he added.
Casino's deal with Amazon also follows a deliverypartnership signed last year with
Since the purchase of Whole Foods Market Inc, expectationsthat Amazon could focus next on
Leclerc,
Leclerc launched its own home delivery service in
"Since the deal with Ocado will not start working until2019, Casino needs to protect Monoprix from Leclerc, whichstarted home delivery in
Amazon has made no secret of its desire to launch a grocerydelivery service in
Amazon has, however, made small forays in that direction andthe