'Stagnating sales at Kaufland in Germany'

Kaufland, the hypermarket growth engine of German retailer Schwarz Group, suffers from stagnating sales. This reports the German business publication LebensmittelZeitung. According to the publication, sales are declining at 80 of the 500 Kaufland stores in Germany. Kaufland as a whole can only grow its total sales by opening new stores, LebensmittelZeitung says.

Other German hypermarket chains like Real, Famila and Marktkauf also deal with stagnating sales figures, so the problem isn’t limited to Kaufland. According to German retail analysts the sales decline is a result of Germany’s dense network of discount stores. Customers on their way to a hypermarket pass by several of these stores and are subsequently tempted to shop there, especially since hard discounters are upgrading their assortments. In Kaufland’s case the damage could be limited as parent company Schwarz Group also owns the Lidl discount chain who may well have picked up business from Kaufland or other hypermarket operators.