What is Kaufland

 

 

Similar to Walmart in the US, Kaufland is a German chain of hypermarkets complete with a fully fledged online marketplace. Owned by the Schwarz Gruppe, Kaufland has physical stores in eight countries, including Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Romania. The online marketplace is available in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, as well as Switzerland and Liechtenstein. In 2024, the online marketplace expanded into two more countries: Poland and Austria. While Poland already had physical Kaufland stores, Austria is a purely online market for the company.

 

As of 2025, the online marketplace is expanding into two further countries: Italy and France. Including the third and fourth largest e-Commerce markets in Europe will allow Kaufland to reach almost 140 million more online shoppers.

 

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+++ Update 2026 +++

 

New year, two new markets. This seems to be the rhythm Kaufland follows with its international expansions, and 2026 is no exception. During the fall of 2026, the platform plans to become available in Spain and the Netherlands as well.  

Sellers wishing to enter these markets with Kaufland have the option to get all necessary legal texts prepared for them for download, provided they are members of the German Retail Federation.

Once the expansion goes through, Kaufland will be available in nine European countries.

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Timestamped screenshot of the homepage of kaufland.com, the company’s international website, taken with our free browser extension tool, screenseal

  

Discover screenseal, our screenshotting tool producing court-admissible screengrabs!

 

 

Kaufland.de in numbers

With an annual GMV of $2,302 million in 2025 and 33 million monthly visitors, kaufland.de is one of the most popular online marketplaces in Germany.

Kaufland’s parent company, Schwarz Gruppe, reported a 4.3% increase in revenue for Kaufland in the 2025 fiscal year, amounting to a whopping 36.7 billion euros. Online revenue remained stable at 1.7 billion euros, the same as last year.

 

Interestingly, Schwarz also owns another popular German brand, Lidl. A popular discount grocery store, Lidl operates online marketplaces in several countries as well. These are so successful that Lidl is one of the most popular platforms for cross-border commerce in Europe.

 

 

Shopping and selling on kaufland.de

Kaufland.de is a general online store, offering a wide array of products like groceries, electronics, fashion, sports, personal care, furniture, car parts, and gardening equipment. The marketplace provides all kinds of payment options, including credit cards, PayPal, and Klarna.

 

Kaufland.de works with third-party sellers from anywhere in the world who need to register with the marketplace for a selling spot. Kaufland requires its sellers to have all the necessary legal documentation in the markets where their products will be available, which, for example, includes displaying a VAT number in Germany.

 

The marketplace verifies the uploaded information before allowing the seller to proceed. In addition to documents, sellers need to fulfil certain requirements. These include product descriptions and customer service in the country’s native language. 

 

Find out all about the seller verification process!

 

Kaufland provides its sellers with assistance when it comes to various aspects of selling, like first-line customer service and product ads. In addition, the company also offers fulfillment, which means that Kaufland takes over storage, handling, shipping, customer service, and returns management from sellers.

 

 

Online vs physical

It’s a common misconception in the case of Walmart that people shopping on the online marketplace have access to the same products as in physical stores. While there’s surely some overlap, it’s important to note that the online platform is a regular marketplace with third-party sellers, which means that there’s a higher chance of accidentally purchasing fake products than in the better-regulated physical store.

 

This is also true for Kaufland’s online marketplace. However, Kaufland found a way to help customers differentiate between the physical and online stores.

 

Customers on kaufland.de have the option to choose which product selection to view: that of the online marketplace or that of a specific physical hypermarket.

 

 

Screenshot of kaufland.de displaying the option to choose products from the online marketplace or a physical store

 

 

In the latter case, people have to pick an actual store to be led to the products available there. While shoppers can’t buy products online from the chosen physical location, it’s a convenient way to compare stock and learn more about the products available.

 

 

Timestamped screenshot of a random product listing on kaufland.de displaying the product’s availability in a physical store

 

 

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Advantages and disadvantages of Kaufland for brands

Featuring a brand's products on kaufland.de could come with significant advantages. As Kaufland is a well-known and trusted brand in Germany and several other European countries, appearing on the marketplace could extend that trust to the brand as well. Similarly, Kaufland’s established presence across various European markets could significantly aid market entry into those markets. This enables small businesses and local sellers to expand their reach without substantial costs and efforts.

 

In addition, Kaufland verifies each seller before activating their account on the marketplace, thus lowering the chances of fraudulent vendors accessing the platform.

 

Learn all about the different types of marketplace verification.

 

However, some dubious sellers may take the time to collect and submit all the necessary documents (or good-quality forgeries of them) and may become eligible for a selling spot on kaufland.de. Considering that around 13,000 sellers are active on the marketplace in over 6,400 product categories, fraudsters may take their chances and try to remain hidden amongst the honest sellers.

 

This is especially true in the case of fulfillment. With such easy access to other markets, even some of a brand's authorized sellers may be tempted to enter a country where they’re not supposed to sell. And voila, a grey market is created.

 

Find out what grey markets are and how to dismantle them!

 

 

How to protect brand's IP rights on kaufland.de

Large online marketplaces that work with third-party sellers always carry a risk of allowing dubious sellers onto their platforms. This is why brands need to set up a comprehensive online brand protection program to detect IP-infringing sellers and products before they’ve had a chance to cause a lot of damage.

 

Marketplace Monitoring can provide access to product listings and seller activity across relevant platforms. Keyword-based searches, with software tools like traxster, can help identify infringing product listings. 

Where protected product images and logos are reused without permission, image monitoring is particularly helpful, since reverse image searches can also uncover manipulated imagery. 

Test purchases can be useful for verifying a product's origin, distribution route, and further information on the seller. The collected information can be especially helpful for reducing grey market activities.

Finally, enforcement measures are necessary to delete infringing content from the internet as fast as possible, so it can’t cause more harm.

Combining monitoring, digital investigation, evidence collection, and enforcement helps brands create a uniform brand image across all relevant platforms, as well as reducing the visibility of counterfeit goods and grey market activities, while supporting authorized distribution and consumer trust.

 

 

Conclusion

Kaufland.de is a trusted marketplace in several European countries. However, despite Kaufland’s best efforts, fraudulent sellers may still try to infiltrate the platform and infringe on brands' IP rights.