Online supermarkets are currently experiencing rapid growth. Some say goodbye, others spread out. The development in super-fast delivery services is particularly dramatic. Getir, which only took over Gorillas at the end of 2022, is closing many locations and laying off employees. However, he is teaming up with Uber Eats across Europe.
Even among the not-so-fast online supermarkets, consolidation is currently taking place at a rapid pace. The Norwegian provider Oda gave up in Germany after a short interlude. Aldi Süd, on the other hand, is the first discounter to offer its own online offering, although officially only on a test basis and regionally limited. Interestingly, by imitating the successful model of the Edeka holding Picnic.
In addition to Picnic, there is another retailer that impresses many customers: Knuspr, the German branch of the Czech Rohlik Group. And he now takes over Bringmeister, the former daughter of Tengelmann, then Edeka and finally Rockaway-Capital. And not only that. “With the takeover of Bringmeister, we want to become profitable throughout Germany even faster, namely by the beginning of next year,” says Tomáš Čupr, founder and boss of Knuspr’s parent company Rohlik South German newspaper. “We will be in Munich in October when the deal is concluded.” Knuspr would be one of the first online supermarkets in this country to be in the black.
The automation of the central warehouse in Garching, north of Munich, for example, contributed to profitability. From there, all Bringmeister customers in the region who want to switch to Knuspr will be supplied. Knuspr is coming to Berlin via Bringmeister, Essen and Hamburg are planned, Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main area are already being delivered. “We make around 100 million in sales in Germany and will probably double that with the takeover of Bringmeister,” says Čupr. The Federal Cartel Office approved the takeover in August. Knuspr aims to supply around 20 German cities by 2030.
In Berlin, Knuspr and Picnic meet face-to-face for the first time. Čupr is conciliatory. “Knuspr and Picnic address different target groups, so we can both be successful, even if we operate in the same area.” Knuspr has advantages in terms of product range because of the speed and regional partners. Čupr, on the other hand, is not very confident about the super-fast provider Getir: “Getir will probably sell its business in Germany soon, the losses are big, the word is already making the rounds in the market.”