Commercial group: Rewe boss: Customers are becoming increasingly impatient

From the perspective of Rewe boss Lionel Souque, shopping in the supermarket could be different in a few years than today. “Customers are getting more and more impatient, time is increasingly important. I cannot imagine that people will continue to face long queues,” said Souque in an interview with the German press agency.

The payment process will change. According to Souque, self -service coffers or formats such as “Pick & Go”, in which customers can leave the market quickly after shopping and pay automatically via the app. “But we will not force people to do anything. In 10 or 20 years there will still be classic health insurance companies with cashier.”

He also expects changes in the range of supermarkets. “Customers are increasingly interested in healthy food.” In the future there will be more fresh articles in the shops such as fruit and vegetables as well as new products such as protein or cocoa alternatives. Things like detergents or beverage crates, on the other hand, would no longer necessarily buy people in the supermarket, but rather order them home.

Tourism division is growing significantly

According to Souque, the price orientation of customers has increased. Despite the declining inflation, the uncertainty was still noticeable. He therefore expects the importance of special offers and own brands.

“Many large food manufacturers have increased their prices in recent years and then lost a lot of sales,” said the corporate boss. Many people have switched to their own brands and have only bought branded products on offer more often. Manufacturers have therefore become more careful with price increases.

The Rewe boss is satisfied with the business. “2024 was a good year for us.” According to its own statements, the Rewe group increased its sales by 4.6 percent to 96 billion euros. In the German food trade it was 41.6 billion euros (+3.2 percent).

Your own travel division was particularly able to grow. Sales rose by almost 22 percent to 8.7 billion euros.

“Experiences are becoming more important,” said Souque. Consumers deliberately invested in their well -being. For this summer, the number of guests is 15 percent higher than in the previous year. In addition to the ongoing tour of travel, the development was also favored by the FTI bankruptcy. The third largest tour operator so far had filed for bankruptcy in 2024 and canceled all booked trips. Rewe’s tourism area had already achieved a double-digit plus in 2023.

Super markets will recover market shares from discounters

The trade giant has recently increased its profit, which has increased by a good third to one billion euros. Among other things, this goes back to a tax refund, it said. The annual surplus does not take into account independent Rewe dealers and participation companies.

Full -sorts such as Rewe and Edeka have won 2024 market shares, as numbers from the NIQ market researcher show. The supermarket chains were able to increase their sales more than discounters like Aldi and Lidl. However, they had recorded larger growth in the two years before.