For a pet exporter, Kaufland is less a single channel than a continent-spanning distribution system — Approximately 1,591 stores (2025), operating across eight countries, a private-label architecture, and buying teams that reward suppliers who arrive audit-ready.
Kaufland: Scale, Format and Footprint
- Founded: 1984 (first store opened in Neckarsulm, Germany)
- Founder / Owner: Part of Schwarz Group (privately held; also owns Lidl). The founding retail business traces back to Lidl & Schwarz KG, established in the 1930s.
- Headquarters: Neckarsulm, Germany
- Ownership: 100% owned by Schwarz Group (Schwarz Beteiligungs-GmbH)
- Scale / Revenue: €35.2 billion in sales for fiscal year 2024, up 2.9% year on year (Schwarz Group total: €175.4 billion, +4.9%)
- Stores: Approximately 1,591 stores (2025), operating across eight countries
- Markets: Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Moldova
- Workforce: Around 157,000 employees (2024)
- Customers: Tens of millions of weekly shoppers across the CEE region, with particularly strong footfall in Romania, Poland, Czech Republic and Bulgaria
Everyday Low Price, Engineered
Kaufland runs large-format hypermarkets (typically 5,000 to 8,000 square metres) that combine a full grocery range with extensive non-food departments, including home, textiles, seasonal goods and a pet-care aisle. Unlike the lean discount model of its sister chain Lidl, Kaufland carries a much wider assortment and deeper shelf presence, which makes it an attractive destination for branded and private-label pet products alike.
Buying is highly centralised. Although Kaufland operates national subsidiaries, assortment and supplier management are coordinated through Schwarz Group’s shared procurement and quality organisations. A new supplier typically engages with the group’s central buying teams in Germany, and listings won, for example, in the German range can be adapted and rolled out to CEE markets. This centralised structure means compliance documentation, certifications and pricing are evaluated at group level, but local market managers influence ranging and promotional calendars.
Kaufland’s value positioning is “everyday low price plus breadth.” Private-label products play a major role, and the group has invested heavily in own-brand quality and sustainability credentials. For pet suppliers, this translates into both a branded-shelf opportunity and a private-label manufacturing opportunity.
Geographically, Kaufland’s growth story is increasingly Eastern European. While Germany remains its largest market, the chain has been deliberately deepening its presence in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where modern grocery retail is expanding faster than in mature Western Europe. This matters for suppliers because CEE store openings create recurring new-store launch demand for pet ranges, promotional packs and local-language packaging. Kaufland’s format also lends itself to seasonal and thematic pet promotions tied to holidays and garden seasons, giving suppliers predictable, planned promotional windows that can be negotiated a year in advance through the central buying team.
The Pet Aisle at Kaufland
As a full-line hypermarket, Kaufland stocks a complete pet-care assortment: dry and wet dog and cat food, snacks and dental treats, small-animal and bird supplies, cat litter, and basic accessories such as bowls, leashes, grooming tools and bedding. Pet is a recurring, high-frequency grocery companion category, which gives suppliers steady baseline volume rather than seasonal spikes alone.
The Schwartz Group supports its ranges with established private-label programmes, and pet food and accessories are frequently offered under these banners alongside national brands. For exporters, the clearest route is either (a) supplying branded lines that complement the existing assortment, or (b) acting as a private-label or contract manufacturer for the group’s own pet ranges. Eastern European shoppers are increasingly trading up to premium and specialised nutrition, creating white space for functional, grain-free, or breed-specific products.
From a category-management perspective, pet is attractive to Kaufland because it drives repeat visits and basket size. Shoppers who buy pet food every few weeks are high-frequency visitors, and the retailer uses pet promotions to anchor store loyalty. For exporters, this means pet lines are not marginal filler but a strategically supported category. Suppliers can propose bundled offers, multi-pack formats and private-label tie-ins that encourage larger baskets, and they should align promotional calendars with the group’s central planning cycles rather than expecting ad-hoc placement. The hypermarket’s large footprint also allows in-store demonstration and end-of-aisle featuring that pure discounters cannot easily match.
Passing the Kaufland Gate
Suppliers targeting Kaufland must meet the full set of EU market-access rules. For pet food, this means compliance with the EU feed-hygiene and feed-control framework (Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 and related feed-law), traceability of all ingredients, and, where animal by-products are used, approved-establishment status. For non-food pet items (toys, beds, collars, feeding bowls), suppliers need CE marking where applicable, REACH compliance for chemical substances, and, from late 2024, alignment with the EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) covering online and offline safety, labelling and documentation.
Packaging must satisfy EU and national requirements on recyclability and labelling, and wood or paper-based products should carry FSC or PEFC certification. Kaufland and the Schwarz Group place growing emphasis on sustainability metrics, so suppliers should be prepared to provide carbon, packaging and social-compliance data (e.g., amfori BSCI or equivalent audits).
Minimum order quantities and lead times are demanding because of the chain’s scale, and suppliers should expect centralised quality audits, factory inspections and annual cost-down negotiations. The most effective approach is to engage the group’s central purchasing organisation with a complete dossier, a competitive landed-cost proposal, and evidence of pan-European compliance.
2024-2026: Scale Meets Change
In fiscal year 2024, the Schwarz Group posted record results: total sales of €175.4 billion (up 4.9%), with Kaufland contributing €35.2 billion (up 2.9%). The group added roughly 300 stores across Lidl and Kaufland, reaching about 14,200 outlets, and created around 20,000 new jobs, taking total employment to approximately 595,000. Investments rose 7.5% to €8.6 billion, and the group plans to increase investment to €9.6 billion in 2025, with a strong focus on logistics, store expansion and data-centre capacity.
Kaufland continues to expand its CEE footprint, particularly in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic, where modern grocery retail is growing faster than in saturated Western markets. The chain has also accelerated digitalisation, e-commerce and fulfilment investments through Schwarz Digits, which improves the proposition for suppliers able to support both in-store and online ranges.
A Realistic Entry Path
Kaufland offers pet suppliers a rare combination: a high-traffic hypermarket channel and a centralised buying gateway into eight European countries through one parent group. Suppliers should prioritise (1) building a compliant, audit-ready dossier before first contact; (2) leading with a private-label or value-tier proposition that fits Kaufland’s price leadership, while reserving premium lines for differentiated shelf space; (3) targeting CEE store openings, where category penetration and premiumisation are still rising; and (4) preparing for sustainability and traceability reporting, which is now a baseline expectation at Schwarz Group. Exporters that can deliver consistent quality at scale, with full EU documentation, will find Kaufland one of the more accessible entry points among Europe’s retail giants.
— Scott Zhu, Founder, GlobalPetIndex
— Scott Zhu, Founder, GlobalPetIndex
Sources & Related Reading
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- Global Pet Brand Directory
- Aldi: The Transatlantic Hard Discounter and Its Heart to Tail Pet Strategy
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- TEDi: Germany’s Variety-Discounter Expansion Story for Pet Accessories
