The Top 4 grocery retailers continue to grow in Germany

The effects of the pandemic are diminishing in the German grocery trade. In 2021 the large groups became larger and the smaller ones became smaller. EDEKA, Rewe, Schwarz-Group and Aldi (incl.North and South) dominate and continue their growth, albeit at a slower rate. The Top 4 accounted domestically for over €205 bn and 74.8% market share. This is both food and non-food. Food in 2021 accounted for €175 bn or 85% of total.

The Top 30 companies turned over €269.5 bn, an increase of 2.5% in 2021. Total food amongst the Top 30 was €228 bn, also an increase of 2.5%. This reflects a return to more normal growth rates after the high increases of 2020 due to the pandemic. Of particular interest is the drop of the Metro-Group to Nr 10 following the sale of their Real superstores to EDEKA, Globus and Kaufland (Schwarz).

Of the Top 4, EDEKA dominates with a 25.2% market share (turnover +0.2%) followed by Rewe (-0.1%), Schwarz-Group (+0.9%) and Aldi (-0.5%). EDEKA turnover amounted to €68.8 bn, Rewe to €56.4 bn, Schwarz-Group to €48.6 bn and Aldi to €30.9 bn.

Two of the 3 national drugstore chains grew faster than classical grocery. DM at Nr 5 grew by 5.8% (€9 bn), Rossmann at Nr 6 by 7.8% (€7.9 bn) and Müller at Nr 13 was down by 1% (€3.1bn).