Edeka grows strongly in pandemic year

Like many other supermarket chains, Edeka fully benefited from the corona crisis last year. The group’s approximately 3,600 independent retailers were the main growth engine.

Growth of almost 10%

Germany’s largest food retailer profited significantly last year from the fact that people were cooking at home more often as a result of the closure of restaurants and widespread teleworking. As a result, Edeka’s group sales rose by 9.5% to 61 billion euro, reports Handelsblatt.

This growth was particularly driven by the 3,600 or so independent Edeka retailers, who saw their combined revenues increase by no less than 14.2% to 33.1 billion euros. Discount subsidiary Netto achieved a plus of 7.9%, good for a turnover of approximately 14.6 billion euro.

Edeka is not the only German retailer to have a strong year. Major rival Rewe recently reported similar growth figures. And there too, the independent franchisees were the driving force behind the growth with a bonus of over 20%. Rewe’s discount subsidiary Penny, on the other hand, increased its sales by “only” 5.4% in Germany.

Everything in one place

Both superpowers benefited from the fact that during the pandemic, consumers preferred to do all their shopping in one shop instead of visiting two or three retailers one after the other. Therefore, they preferred the supermarkets with their wider assortment. According to market research agency GfK, supermarkets were thus able to take market share away from the discounters.

Despite the overall excellent figures, Edeka was also negatively affected by the corona crisis in some areas. In particular, stores in high-traffic locations such as shopping centres, train stations or airports, as well as stores in areas close to the border or tourist areas, suffered from declining customer numbers, the company reported. In addition, the wholesale division of the German group also suffered a contraction of 11.5%.