Britain's leading purchasing group has launched a new operation to offer staff at East Anglian companies the chance to cut the cost of buying domestic products and services.

Anglia Farmers has launched "AF Affinity" - a new arm which will use the group's buying power to reduce the price of anything from heating oil and mobile phones to private medical care to the workforce at its client companies.

The media group, Archant Norfolk - publisher of the EDP, Evening News and its sister weekly titles - has become the new venture's first customer.

Jeremy Philippi, AF Affinity's general manager, said: "We have been testing this new service for employers with Archant Norfolk, who we know well through various business act-ivities, including our sponsorship of the EDP Food Awards.

"During the test we were able to define the sorts of services which would be useful to offer to businesses' employees."

Mr Philippi added: "We know that in these difficult times many employers are looking at how they can give added-value services to their staff. By being involved with AF Affinity, we can offer larger employers a range of useful savings for their staff. We are major purchasers of central heating oil, white goods, mobile telephone bundles and a complete range of insurance services, as well as a host of other goods.

"We prefer to buy from local organisations, and because we buy in bulk we can pass on the savings we obtain to the employees of the companies who use us. We know that using local suppliers was a key aspect of the service for Archant Norfolk."

Anglia Farmers evolved from the merger of Loddon Farmers and Mid-Norfolk Farmers in 2003 and has grown rapidly in scale and membership.

Based at Honingham Thorpe on the outskirts of Norwich, the group has 1,300 full and 550 associate members and buys more than £165m of supplies for farmers and rural businesses.

Its rapid growth propelled it to 17th in the EDP's 2009 Business Guide and league of the region's 75 biggest businesses.

Archant Norfolk managing director Stephan Phillips said the media company's staff would also benefit from being able to consult trained buyers at AF Affinity before deciding what purchase to make.

"The emergence of buying groups, aided by easy to use and helpful technology is one of the things we have been interested in for some time," Mr Phillips said.

"Anglia Farmers is an organisation which many businesses in the farming sector rely on to provide reliable and efficient procurement. Within a very short space of time they have become one of Norfolk's fastest growing companies.

"We are very pleased to be the first company to have an association with AF Affinity. What it means is that our permanent staff will be able to save money on a wide variety of the products and services they use, from central heating oil to mobile phones. We believe the offers on private health and dental care will also be popular."