List of the 500 Largest Trading Companies Germany [2023]

Product Overview

Contains the 500 largest trading companies from Germany in the wholesale, retail and e-commerce sectors. The list is an excerpt from our list of the 5,000 largest companies in Germany.

Excellent level of detail: industry and field of activity, turnover (2015 - 2021) if publicly available, number of employees (2018- 2021) if publicly available, general contact details, names of management, etc.

Suitable for bulk mailings: list contains columns for German formal salutation, title, first and last name of the management.

High-quality lists thanks to manual data maintenance by an experienced research team in Munich. Boutique research instead of unchecked crawler data.

List of the 5 largest trading companies in Germany

Trade is one of the central economic sectors in Germany. Trading companies contribute about 16 percent of the gross domestic product and provide a good 3 million jobs. These are the 5 largest trading companies in the Federal Republic of Germany:

1. REWE Deutscher Supermarkt AG & Co. KGaA, Cologne

With around 3,600 stores, REWE is the number 2 in German food retailing and at the same time Germany’s second largest trading company. Originally organised as a cooperative, Rewe has long since formed a group of companies. The current structure has been in place since 2006, when various supermarket chains of the Group were merged under the REWE brand. The discounter Penny also belongs to REWE.

Update 2022: The 2021 financial year was extremely successful for Rewe, with sales growth of 2 billion euros and total external sales of 76.5 billion euros. The DIY sector is served by toom Baumärkte, the Lekkerland Group generates sales in the convenience sector, and PENNY is active as a discounter throughout Europe.

2. EDEKA ZENTRALE AG & Co. KG, Hamburg

EDEKA is the largest German food retailer. The group and the decentralised cooperative organisation enter into a unique symbiosis. The EDEKA headquarters is the umbrella for 7 regional companies. Around 4,500 independent EDEKA retailers form the basis. The network includes, among others, the discounter Netto, various bakery chains, beverage retailers and self-service department stores.

3. METRO AG, Düsseldorf

METRO AG was created in 2017 from the split-up of the old Metro Group and combined the retail chains Metro Cash & Carry and Real. The Real stores were sold to an investor group in February 2020. What remained is essentially Metro Cash & Carry - an international wholesale chain with a total of 760 self-service wholesale stores in 25 countries.

Update 2023: In February 2023, the Group announced that the Management Board of Metro Germany would be expanded. Martin Schumacher, a long-time Metro manager with international experience, was appointed CEO.

4. PHOENIX Pharmahandel GmbH & Co KG, Mannheim

PHOENIX Pharmahandel is the number 1 pharmaceutical wholesaler in Germany and a leading European healthcare provider. The company belongs to the Merckle Group - a conglomerate with a focus on pharmaceuticals. PHOENIX Pharmahandel supplies 56,000 pharmacies in 27 countries with pharmaceuticals and healthcare products.

5. CECONOMY AG, Düsseldorf

Like METRO AG, CECONOMY was created in 2017 from the split-up of the old Metro Group. Since then the consumer electronics chains Mediamarkt and Saturn have been operating under the new name. In operational terms, the stores are organized under the umbrella of the MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group in Ingolstadt. The individual stores are legally independent units and each is majority-owned by the MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group.

Part of our list: Retailers, wholesalers, e-commerce companies

The retail sector reflects the German economy in its variety. Many retailers specialise in specific sectors and are market leaders in their respective industries. With our list of the largest retailers in Germany, we cover all areas and make this difficult-to-understand industry transparent. You can use the database to identify specific retailers, wholesalers or e-commerce companies. Thanks to our categorization and segmentation you can see at a glance in which industries the respective companies are active. Thus, our list offers much more than just an address database.

This information is included

• Company name
• General contact data (address, e-mail address, telephone number, URL)
• Serial letter suitable for addressing the management (e.g. “Sehr geehrter Herr Dr. Müller”)
• Name of the management
• Sales figures for the years 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 as well as employee figures for the years 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 (taken from the annual and consolidated financial statements)
• Field of activity
• Classification by industry (see below)
• Own stationary trade (yes/no)
• Own online trade (yes/no)

Note: If the sales and employee figures are not included in a company’s own financial statements but in the parent company’s consolidated financial statements, the data from the respective consolidated financial statements are provided.