Germany

Food

Aldi to employ redundant McDonald’s staff

A remarkable alliance in these remarkable times: Aldi and McDonald's have agreed the discounter can take over staff from restaurants the fastfood chain had to close due to measures to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.

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Fashion

Hudson’s Bay Netherlands: problem child for German parent

Internal documents have revealed that German company Karstadt, the parent of Hudson's Bay Netherlands, is considering closing the Dutch outlets or filing for bankruptcy.

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Food

Metro lives up to expectations

German wholesaler Metro has had a mixed first quarter of its financial year 2018/19. While turnover went up slightly (on a comparable basis), profit went down. Western Europe saw strong performances.

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Food

Aldi challenger has to close shop after five days

What a start: Russian discounter Mere has had to close its first German store after just five days. Not due to a lack of customers, rather the contrary: suppliers could not handle the storming demand and the supermarket's shelves became empty.

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Electronics

New CEO and CFO for MediaMarkt and Saturn

Ceconomy, the owner of electronics chains MediaMarkt and Saturn, has appointed a new CEO and a new CFO. After the exit of Pieter Haas, Jörn Werner and Karin Sonnenmoser will take over.

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Food

Metro to become a Czech company?

Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky and Slovak investor Patrik Tkac may be making an offer to take over Metro soon: the two have already acquired portions of the holding behind the Metro and Makro chains.

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Fashion

How Bonprix is digitising the shopping experience

German fashion chain Bonprix (a subsidiary of Otto Group) is opening an innovative test store on 14 February. The store, located in Hamburg, will allow customers to shop through an app - showing how digital shopping works in practice.

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Food

Whole Foods expands to Continental Europe

Amazon is introducing Continental Europe to its organic food label Whole Foods, at first to visitors to Amazon's sites in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

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General

German judge: "Amazon Dash is illegal"

Amazon's Dash buttons, which allow customers to order toilet paper or powder detergent at the push of a button, are illegal in Germany. This is the verdict of a German court, but Amazon refuses to leave it at that.

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Food

Russian discounter to tackle Aldi and Lidl on home soil

Hard discounters Aldi and Lidl are being challenged in Germany: a new competitor claims to be 20 % cheaper: Russian price fighter Torgservis will open its first store in Leipzig on 29 January.

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General

JD.com to shelve European expansion

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com needs to regain investor confidence and announced a major restructuring. In addition, the European expansion plans are also threatened: the future of a planned office in Germany has become very unsure.

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General

Stabilo scores with Belgian hype

German Schwan-Stabilo has managed to score a worldwide Christmas hit with its pastel-coloured markers. It was a Belgian idea that saved the German manufacturer.

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Food

Takeaway got hold of Delivery Hero after all

Takeaway.com will be taking over all activities of its rival Delivery Hero in Germany. The two meal delivery services have been locked in conflict for years and now Delivery Hero has parted from its own country.

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Food

Kaufland v Unilever row escalates

An ongoing dispute about prices has come to an end as German hypermarket chain Kaufland decided to terminate all dealings with British-Dutch manufacturer Unilever. Brands like Knorr, Lipton, Axe, Dove and Magnum will no longer be available in their stores.

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Food

Aldi Nord occurs loss for the first time in Germany

Aldi Nord, which also includes the Belgian and Dutch outlets, plunged into a loss in its home market for the first time ever. The substantial loss ("eight digits") was caused by a disappointing turnover and heavy investment costs.

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Electronics

Ceconomy beheaded: after CEO, CFO also quits

Ceconomy, the holding owning electronics chains MediaMarkt and Saturn, has had a bad year: after CEO Pieter Haas' departure in mid-October, now financial director Mark Frese also quits.

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