Germany news 

As Metro continues its evolution as a company, we round up developments in Spain, France and Romania as it looks to strengthen its operations globally and in the specific countries. Metro to promote digital transformation with Wipro Metro and Wipro have announced a strategic digital and IT partnership ‘ to drive forward the transformation of the Group's IT and to concentrate more strongly i...

The two discounters continue to work closer together in Germany. To better understand how their strategies are evolving we looked at the first folders of the year. Below are the key learnings we identified from the promotional offers on private label and branded products, Veganuary and the marketing messages. Two different folders but common offers on several categories In many European cou...

As 2021 begins, we can reflect that 2020 didn’t play out as we might have expected. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led companies to reflect on their priorities and focus on shorter time scales. In this article, we consider five key themes we expect to shape retailers’ strategy in 2021 and share videos of this in practice. 1. Drive for value Delivering value has been a defining tr...

Highly acquisitive, global forecourt operator, EG Group has announced another significant acquisition, this time of a network of 285 fuel retail sites from OMV Deutschland GmbH in southern Germany.  This adds further scale to EG’s existing presence in Germany, which was first established by the acquisition of around 1,000 locations from Esso in 2017. Sites primarily focused in Bavaria and Bade...

Germany-based Metro has ended its 2019/20 financial year on a positive trajectory after a challenging year that saw its major markets and customers impacted heavily by the COVID-19 pandemic. Positive Q4 sees Metro gain market share In its full year, Metro reported like-for-like sales contracted by 3.9%, which was at the upper end of its guidance range. The company said that ‘ with the excep...

Aldi Süd plans to introduce new bakery counters in 1,000 stores in Germany by Spring 2021 to improve quality and freshness perception. Whilst most products will be baked directly in-store, the discounter will also expand its partnerships with regional bakeries. Replacing the vending machines with qualitative counters Aldi Süd’s famous bread vending machines are about to become a thing of th...

Schwarz Group, Lidl and Kaufland parent’s company, is set to launch smart cloud solutions in early 2021. Lidl is reorganizing its IT and digital divisions to focus on the digital transformation of its stores, while the recent acquisition of the real.de marketplace will accelerate Kaufland’s omnichannel transformation. Smart cloud solutions made in Europe Schwarz Group will launch clou...

As Metro Cash & Carry establishes a transition team as its chief executive prepares to step down at the end of the year and launches a new service, we round up news from the retailer. Metro establishes CEO transition team During the transition period after existing CEO, Olaf Koch, leaves, Metro has confirmed that its CFO, Christian Baier, and COO, Rafael Gasset, will jointly assume the posi...

(Last updated 26/11/2020) As Western European countries are facing a second wave of COVID-19 infections, several governments are implementing stricter restrictions including second national lockdowns. Here is an update of the latest announcements across the region Germany Latest ( update 26/11/2020) : Lockdown to be extended until at lest 20 December, with non-essential busines...

 DM reported a 2.9% increase in total group sales to €11.5bn for FY2019/20. Slower growth in Germany, but investment continues The drugstore operator reported 2.1% sales increase in Germany, reaching €8.54bn for the FY2019/20. Passing reductions in VAT to shoppers had a dampening effect on value sales, which dm estimates would have been c.3% without this impact. This compares with a 3.2% in...