Kaufland

German multinational hypermarket chain owned by Schwarz Group

Kaufland

Company type| Private
Industry| Retail
Founded| 1984; 41 years ago (1984)
Headquarters| Neckarsulm, Germany

Number of locations

| 1,591 (2025)

Area served

| Germany, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia
Products| Hypermarkets
Revenue| €35.2 billion (2024)[1]

Number of employees

| 157,000 (2024)[2]
Parent| Schwarz Gruppe
Website| www.kaufland.com

Kaufland ([ˈkaʊ̯flant]) is a German hypermarket chain, part of the Schwarz Gruppe which also owns Lidl. The hypermarket directly translates to English as "buy-land." It opened its first store in 1984 in Neckarsulm and quickly expanded to become a major chain in what was formerly West Germany. It operates over 1,500 stores[3] in Germany, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova.[4]

## History

[edit]

Scanners for customers of the Kaufland in Poland

The history of Kaufland began when Joseph Schwarz entered the Südfrüchte Großhandlung Lidl & Co. company as a shareholder in 1930, which was then renamed Lidl & Schwarz KG.[5] The company expanded its range from fruit to a food and goods wholesaler for the Heilbronn-Franken region.[6]

During World War II, along with the city of Heilbronn, the company was destroyed and needed rebuilding. Within ten years, the company was rebuilt and, in 1954, moved into its own property in Heilbronn in addition to joining the A & O retail chain (today: Markant).[7] With Handels- und Fruchthof Heilbronn GmbH the first regional warehouse was opened in northern Württemberg. In 1964, the company expanded its range of products by opening a meat department.[7]

In 1968, Lidl & Schwarz opened the first Handelshof discount store in Backnang,[8] and in 1977 at the same place a hypermarket of the same name was established. Following the US self-service market structure, a 1000 m² facility was opened, with an employee base of 70 individuals.[9]

After the death of Joseph Schwarz in 1977 his son Dieter Schwarz took over the management of the company.[8] Taking the name of his father's former business partner, he introduced the Lidl chain which were primarily discount stores and quickly expanded the range of stores business into 30 locations.[6] As an alternative to these stores, he developed Kaufland.[6] In 1984 the first Kaufland hypermarket was opened in Neckarsulm, where the corporate headquarters had been located since 1972.[6]

After the reunification of Germany the Kaufland chain expanded into the Eastern German states and opened numerous markets.[6] The first East German Kaufland store was opened in Meissen in 1990.[10] In 1998, the first department store outside of Germany was established in Kladno, Czech Republic.[6] In the 2000s, the company established branches in Slovakia (since 2000), Croatia (2001), Poland (2001), Romania (2005), Bulgaria (2006) and Moldova (2018).

In 2006 and 2007, other store openings followed in Germany and Kaufland also took over shares of competitors. In February 2009 the corporation claimed to have 73,000 employees in Germany.[11]

In January 2010, it was announced that Karl Lupus GmbH & Co. KG was cleared by antitrust authorities to sell their 12 stores of the famila Handels-Betriebe GmbH & Co. KG Rhein-Neckar and the Cash-&-Carry-Markt Lupus Food Service with 1,400 employees to Kaufland.[12]

In January 2010, the Kaufland group had purchased all five Schleckerland drug stores in Ehingen, Geislingen, Tempe, Neu-Ulm, Schwäbisch Gmünd and all but the Neu-Ulm store had been converted to the Kaufland brand by then. The local Schleckerland was closed down because Kaufland was already present in Neu-Ulm.[13]

From 2011 onward, all Handelshof stores were to be gradually converted to the Kaufland brand and to be partly rebuilt and enlarged.

In November 2016, Kaufland's parent company applied for Kaufland trademarks in Australia.[14] In September 2019, Kaufland announced plans to open 20 stores in Australia.[15] In January 2020, Kaufland announced it was abandoning its expansion plans for Australia,[16][17] two years after buying its first store and six months after starting work on its distribution centre. It had invested about 310 million euro and hired over 200 staff members but never opened a store.[18] The first stores were originally expected to open in 2019 but the launch date had been pushed back to 2021.[19]

On 26 September 2019, the first two Moldovan stores were opened in the capital city of Chișinău.[20] Construction of the fourth Moldovan store started on 23 July 2020, in the southern city of Comrat.[21] The beginning of construction at the fifth Moldovan store in the city of Ungheni was announced on 6 October 2020.[22]

In 2021, the company announced its 2030 decarbonisation strategy, in partnership with DHL maritime transport. The strategy explained plans to produce 80 percent less carbon dioxide by the year 2030 by saving 12,000 tons of CO2 each year, with the use of sustainable marine fuel in all maritime transport of Kaufland products.[23]

In 2020, the Slovak version of the company was created the very famous children's festival, Kaufland detský festival . This event was started with "Zimná rozprávka", witch was in Bory Mall in Bratislava in February 8 of this year. The new mascot of this festival is Kuniboo, the racoon of the baby assortment.

## Operations

[edit]

European countries in which Kaufland is active Country  | Number
of stores  | Ref.

|
|

Germany | 788  | [24]
Poland | 251  | [25]
Romania | 193  | [26][27]
Czech Republic | 147  | [28]
Slovakia | 84  | [29][30]
Bulgaria | 68  | [31]
Croatia | 51  | [32]
Moldova | 9  | [33]
Total  | 1,591

## Products

[edit]

With an inventory averaging 30,000 items[citation needed] , Kaufland provides a diverse selection of food and goods for daily needs. Alongside products from various manufacturer brands, Kaufland also offers its own brands, including Kaufland Mobile among others.

Since 1994, Kaufland has operated its own bakeries. Kaufland expanded its product range to include Demeter products starting from November 2018, catering to consumers seeking organic and biodynamic options.[citation needed]

The company maintains its own meat processing facilities located in Möckmühl, Osterfeld, Heilbronn, and Heiligenstadt, as well as in Říčany, Czech Republic. These facilities enable Kaufland to oversee the production process and maintain high standards of quality across its meat products.[34][35][36][37]

## Gallery

[edit]

* Kaufland store in Bad Segeberg, Germany

* Kaufland in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland

* Kaufland in Litvínov, Czech Republic

* Kaufland in Košice, Slovakia

* Kaufland in Sofia, Bulgaria

* Kaufland in Zagreb, Croatia

* Kaufland in Hațeg, Romania

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Successful fiscal year for the companies of Schwarz Group". gruppe.scharz. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
2. ^ "Standorte - alles auf einen Blick" (in German). kaufland.de. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
3. ^ "Kaufland opens in Romania the 1500th store in its European network". Romania Insider. 24 November 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
4. ^ "Kaufland neu in der Republik Moldau in der Hauptstadt Chisinau gehen die ersten beiden Filialen ans Netz". Presseportal.de (in German). 26 September 2019.
5. ^ "Über Josef Schwarz". Josef Schwarz Schule. n.d. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
6. ^ a b c d e f Zentes, Joachim; Morschett, Dirk; Schramm-Klein, Hanna (2016). Strategic Retail Management: Text and International Cases. Springer. pp. 39–44\. ISBN 9783658101831.
7. ^ a b Schwedt, Georg (2006). Vom Tante-Emma-Laden zum Supermarkt: eine Kulturgeschichte des Einkaufens (in German). Wiley-VCH. p. 99\. ISBN 9783527502189. "Nach der Zerstörung im Zweiten Weltkrieg erfolgte ein Wiederaufbau und 1954 der Bezug eines eigenen Anwesens in Heilbronn sowie der Eintritt in die damalige A&O - Handelskette. 1964 ist das Jahr des Kaufland - Fleischwerks.."
8. ^ a b Siegfried, Patrick (2015). International Management in Practice Volume 1: Lenovo, Ferrero, DaimlerChrysler, BASF, Opel, Lidl, Coca-Cola, Viessmann. Akademische Verlagsgemeinschaft München. pp. 136–139\. ISBN 9783960913689.
9. ^ Friedl, Joachim (11 October 2011). "Aus Handelshof wurde Kaufland - STIMME.de" [Handelshof became Kaufland]. Heilbronner Stimme (in German). Retrieved 20 March 2020.
10. ^ Grant, Tina (2009). International Directory of Company Histories, Volume 100. St. James Press. p. 385\. ISBN 9781558626348. "In October 1990 a Kaufland opened in Meissen in the eastern German state of Saxony. After that the chain grew rapidly throughout the region."
11. ^ "Kaufland investiert in Logistiknetz". February 2009. Archived from the original on 19 December 2009.
12. ^ "Aus Famila wird Kaufland: Alle Mitarbeiter übernommen". Pforzheimer Zeitung (in German). 19 January 2010. Archived from the original on 11 February 2013.
13. ^ "Schleckerland macht zu". Schwäbische Zeitung. 25 November 2009. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
14. ^ Carey, Alexis (24 January 2020). "Why German supermarket pulled the pin on Australia". NewsComAu. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
15. ^ "Kaufland announces plans to open at least 20 stores in Australia". NewsComAu. 2 September 2019.
16. ^ Fritze, Heiko (22 January 2020). "Kaufland beendet das Abenteuer Australien" [Kaufland ends the adventure of Australia]. Heilbronner Stimme (in German). Retrieved 10 March 2020.
17. ^ LZ, Rdaktion (22 January 2020). "Rückzug: Kaufland stoppt Expansion nach Australien" [Withdrawal: Kaufland stops expansion to Australia]. Lebensmittel Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 18 October 2021.
18. ^ Powell, Johnson (22 January 2020). "'Gobsmacked': German retail giant Kaufland abandons Australia, adding to retail woes". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
19. ^ Mitchell, Sue (22 January 2020). "'No warning' as Kaufland pulls plug on Australia". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
20. ^ "Kaufland eröffnet in der Republik Moldau erste Filialen". Stimme.de (in German). 26 September 2019.
21. ^ "Sergiu Railean: "Mă bucură faptul că tot mai mulți investitori străini decid să-și lanseze afaceri în țara noastră"". Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
22. ^ "Lucrările de construcție a magazinului Kaufland din Municipiul Ungheni sunt în plină desfășurare". Kaufland (in Romanian). 6 October 2020. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
23. ^ Behn, Hanna (26 August 2021). "Kaufland setzt für nachhaltigen Seetransport auf DHL" [Kaufland relies on DHL for sustainable sea transport]. logistik-watchblog.de (in German). Retrieved 24 April 2024.
24. ^ https://geolocet.com/products/germany-kaufland-grocery
25. ^ https://geolocet.com/products/poland-kaufland-grocery
26. ^ "Kaufland - cele mai noi promoții". Kaufland (in Romanian). Retrieved 9 October 2024.
27. ^ "Kaufland continues expansion and opens 4th store in Pitești". retail-fmcg.ro (in Romanian). 17 July 2025.
28. ^ https://geolocet.com/products/czechia-kaufland-grocery
29. ^ "Kaufland.sk — Objavte našu ponuku a nakupujte za nízke ceny". Kaufland.sk. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
30. ^ "Kaufland has expanded with a new store and brought a children's playground to Martin". Kaufland.sk (in Slovak). 27 February 2025.
31. ^ https://geolocet.com/products/bulgaria-kaufland-grocery
32. ^ https://geolocet.com/products/croatia-kaufland-grocery
33. ^ https://geolocet.com/products/moldova-kaufland-grocery
34. ^ Fritze, Heiko (24 December 2008). "Kaufland investiert 38 Millionen Euro" [Kaufland invests 30 million Euros]. Heilbronner Stimme (in German). Retrieved 27 December 2008.
35. ^ "Wir über uns - Die FRISCHE-Metzgerei von K-Purland" [About us: The FRESH butcher of K-Purland]. 13 November 2011. Archived from the original on 12 May 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
36. ^ Jentsch, Bernd (18 December 2009). "Fleischfabrik schafft mindestens 400 Jobs im Eichsfeld" [Meat factory creates at least 400 jobs in Eichsfeld]. www.thueringer-allgemeine.de (in German). Retrieved 27 April 2011.
37. ^ Stockburger, Manfred (20 November 2010). "Leiharbeiter: Vorreiter Kaufland" [Temporary worker: Pioneer Kaufland]. Heilbronner Stimme (in German). Retrieved 27 April 2011.

## External links

[edit]

* Kaufland Germany (in German)
* Kaufland Bulgaria (in Bulgarian)
* Kaufland Croatia (in Croatian)
* Kaufland Czech Republic (in Czech)
* Kaufland Poland (in Polish)
* Kaufland Romania (in Romanian)
* Kaufland Slovakia (in Slovak)
* Kaufland Moldova (in Romanian)
* EBRD supports Kaufland's expansion in eastern Europe

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