Kaufland: From a German Marketplace to a European Lovebrand?

Key Insights

• Marketplace with food DNA. Kaufland combines in-store grocery expertise with a huge non-food range. Smartly linked through the unique Kaufland Card.
• Expansion with a plan. After Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria, Kaufland is now focusing on France and Italy, aiming to hold its own as a lovebrand alongside Amazon & Co.
• Retail media with impact. Kaufland relies on its own Sponsored Product Ads for measurable KPI improvements and real benefits for retailers, brands and customers.
• Social commerce as a reach lever. The combination of SEO, price comparison and influencer marketing increases brand awareness, especially among younger audiences.
• ️ Services as a growth driver. From extended warranties to re-commerce and innovative payment solutions, Kaufland is consistently expanding its service ecosystem.

With over 45 million products in more than 6,000 categories, Kaufland wants to consolidate its position as one of Germany's largest online platforms and at the same time establish itself as a pan-European player alongside Amazon, Otto and Co. Karo talks to Gerald Schönbucher (CEO of Kaufland.de) about how to get there, from the transformation over the last six years to expansion into new markets and strategic initiatives such as retail media and the unique Kaufland Card.

How do you manage the balancing act between classic price comparison and social commerce? What role do loyalty programs, data-driven marketing and a wide range of non-food products play in competition with global platforms?

An overview of the conversation

1. 1:23 Kaufland's digital transformation from grocery retailer to non-food all-rounder
2. 10:47 Niche players vs. generalists
3. 18:46 Customer acquisition via social media and influencer marketing
4. 24:42 Loyalty programs as a bridge between online and offline
5. 30:09 Retail media as a revenue driver
6. 33:35 Growth ambitions: expansion, product optimization and new services

With a growing international presence and the goal of putting European values front and center, Gerald gives an exciting outlook on how Kaufland intends to win the competition for consumers' favor.

Our key insights from the Kaufland podcast

🌐 Marketplace with food DNA. Kaufland combines brick-and-mortar grocery expertise with a huge range of non-food products. Smartly linked with the unique Kaufland Card.

🌍 Expansion with a plan. After Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria, Kaufland is focusing on France and Italy, with the aim of holding its own as a lovebrand alongside Amazon & Co.

📈 Retail media with impact. Kaufland uses self-developed Sponsored Product Ads for measurable KPI increases and real benefits for retailers, brands and customers.

📱 Social commerce as a reach lever. The combination of SEO, price comparison and influencer marketing increases brand awareness, especially among the young target group.

♻️ Services as growth drivers. From warranty extensions to re-commerce to innovative payment solutions, Kaufland is consistently expanding its service ecosystem.

Tech & AI as a growth lever

Scaling a marketplace with around 45 million articles and closely linking brick-and-mortar retail and online business require more than just reach. They demand an excellent technological backbone. Gerald emphasizes that AI is playing an increasingly relevant role in personalizing loyalty programs and delivering relevant offers. When optimizing the search function, Kaufland also invests heavily in smart technologies, for example through semantic search models.

Retailers who want to set up a similarly scalable e-commerce architecture and make complex product ranges navigable for customers must start early on. This is exactly where we provide support as a digital consultancy. If you want to implement a smart search & recommendation engine or monetize your loyalty program in a data-driven manner through a professional CDP implementation, we translate these technological challenges into measurable business impact.

For companies that want to take their digital transformation to the next level across the board, AI implementation is the strongest lever for increasing efficiency today. As experienced AI consultants, we support the digital transformation of companies end-to-end. Whether it's process automation with AI in seller onboarding, e-commerce tech stack optimization or a tailor-made commerce platform implementation, we ensure that modern technologies integrate smoothly into existing systems. With formats such as our AI Readiness Assessment or Value Sprints, we identify use cases that deliver real economic added value after just a few weeks.