Schwarz Beteiligungs

Schwarz Group is a retail group that was founded in 1912 in Germany by Johannes and Georg Schwarz. The business operates both retail and wholesale businesses. Schwarz Group operates over 12500 stores in around 33 countries.

Schwarz Group operates the following retail banners:

• Kaufland: a chain of hypermarkets
• Lidl: a chain of supermarkets

Schwarz Group runs its wholesale business under the name Ruep. 

In 2020, Schwarz Group reached a turnover of € 113.3 billion and there were 458000 people employed by the business. 

Schwarz Group, under its various banners, offers products in the following categories:

• Savory Grocery: canned food, pet food, oil, spices, pasta, etc.
• Sweet Grocery: industrial pastries, breakfast cereals, coffee, tea, etc.
• Drinks: soft drinks, flavored water, juice, iced tea, etc.
• Dairy: cheese,  yoghurt, butter, cream, buttermilk, kefir, etc.
• Chilled & Fresh Food: charcuterie, meat, seafood, ready-meals, etc.
• Frozen Food: ice-cream, vegetables, seafood, meat, ready-meals, etc. 
• Personal Care: hair care, oral care, face care, baby care, etc.
• Household: laundry care, disinfectant, air freshener, cleaner, etc.

Various brands including K-classic, Airwick, Alpro, Vittel, Beeck, etc. are offered.

Regarding its banners, Schwarz Group is encouraging both Kaufland and Lidl to develop nutritive products and reduce sugar and salt in them.

As a company working towards achieving sustainable goals, Schwarz Group is targeting to use solely recyclable packaging for all the products under the private labels for Lidl and Kaufland. 

Moreover, Schwarz Group intends to reduce its food waste by 50% by 2030. 

UPDATES ON SCHWARZ GROUP ON 10/06/2021

In 2021, Schwarz Group announced that it was developing till-less stores in Germany.  The project is being tested under the store name shop.box and is being run by Schwarz Restaurantbetriebe, another subsidiary of the group. 

Furthermore, a pick-up application, collect.box is in the works. Through this service, customers can make a shopping list and then pick up their orders at a terminal.