Aldi, Edeka and Co.: From photos to insurance: What food dealers offer

The large supermarket and discounter chains in Germany have one thing in common: they not only sell foods such as fruit, vegetables, sausages, cheese, dairy products, drinks and frozen food. Your range is now significantly wider. Kaufland has also been offering insurance since this month. An overview of the offer of the commercial giants:

Photos, mobile communications and travel

For a long time, photos can no longer be developed exclusively in a specialist shop or for online providers such as Pixum or Posterxxl. Large dealers such as Edeka, Lidl, Aldi, Rewe and Kaufland also offer this service. Customers can order the pictures online and then pick it up.

The mobile phone offer has also established itself: All chains-including Edeka, Netto, Rewe, Penny, Norma, Aldi, Lidl and Kaufland-have their own mobile phone tariffs. Vacation trips can also be booked at almost all major dealers – with the exception of Kaufland. Rewe goes one step further: the only company in the industry is the organizer. The tourism division includes the tourism division DERTOUR, Germany’s second largest tour operator.

Marketing professor Stefan Rohrbach from the Media University in Stuttgart explains: “Anyone who manages to be perceived as a reliable provider for certain everyday needs, for example in the case of cheap mobile phone tariffs or when planning the travel, remains better in the memory.”

Insurance and banks

Kaufland has recently been offering insurance in cooperation with the online insurer-a subsidiary of the Zurich Group-initially for dental supplements and pets. The offer should be expanded in the future. Edeka operates its own direct bank with the Edekabank.

There is also a fear of missing something in the trade, said trading expert Carsten Kortum from the Baden-Württemberg University of Applied Sciences. “Of course, competitors in an industry watch intensively.” Many have already gained experience in the insurance business. New product groups or successful action articles are therefore often copied quickly.

The REWE supermarket chain offers a delivery service for fresh food-as well as the online provider Picnic, in which EDEKA is involved. In addition, some independent Edeka merchants supply their customers directly at home. Discounters, on the other hand, have hardly rely on delivery services: Aldi Süd tests corresponding offers in selected regions in North Rhine-Westphalia. Other chains are at all durable foods in their online shops.

Alternatively, customers can also pre -order their purchase from some dealers online and then collect them in the branch. Rewe offers Click & Collect in around 2,000 markets. Numerous EDEKA markets also enable picking up regionally.

In addition to the classic range of everyday goods, the so-called non-food area has been established for a long time. These include product groups such as clothing, garden accessories, home textiles, play and stationery as well as household items such as pots and dishes.

The discounters and the Kaufland department store offer a larger selection here than Rewe and Edeka’s supermarkets. There are more products than in the branches in the online shops. Lidl, Kaufland, Netto and Norma sell furniture, bicycles and kitchen appliances. Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd, on the other hand, close their online shop at the end of September.

Marketing expert Rohrbach explains: “Discounters originally used non-food offers to lure customers into the branches more often with changing actions.” However, it is now also about opening up new sources of income – for example with mobile radio or insurance.

For all major food dealers, customers can also withdraw cash while shopping. In 2024 they lifted 13.57 billion euros in the entire German retail. According to the commercial research institute, this was a tenth more than in the previous year. Banks apply for this service and at the same time reduce ATMs.

Many groceries also offer gift cards for well-known brands such as Amazon, the streaming service Spotify or the online list of well-known game console manufacturers.

Numerous offers depend on the season. For example, EDEKA organizes a Nikolaus campaign every year: children who design their boots with the help of a handicraft template and hand in in the branch receive it back with sweets on Santa Claus. The discounter Aldi organized its own Christmas market in some German cities last year. A mobile ice cream parlor was on the road in June 2025.

One thing is certain: Aldi, Rewe & Co. are no longer pure food dealers. But “everyday companions and impulse providers for many areas of life”, as Kortum emphasizes.

The drugstore chains such as DM and Rossmann are also increasingly expanding their range. In the branches, customers can now buy significantly more food than a few years ago.