German supermarket chain EDEKA increased its turnover by around 6.7% to €70.7 billion ($75.8 billion) in the last financial year, the corporation reported on Thursday.
The roughly 3,400 independent EDEKA-branded supermarket co-operatives that form part of the company reported turnover of €39.3 billion in their stores, a jump of 7.7% over last year.
The discount grocery chain Netto, which is owned by EDEKA, saw particularly strong sales growth as consumers turned to cheaper stores amid rising prices. EDEKA reported that sales at Netto rose to €17.1 billion in 2023, up 8.5% over the previous year.
EDEKA did not disclose figures on profits.
The number of grocery stores remained more or less constant at 11,000, including around 4,350 Netto stores.
EDEKA describes itself as the largest private-sector employer in Germany. In total, almost 410,700 people were employed there last year, an increase of 1,800 employees over 2022.
At the end of 2023, the number of trainees at EDEKA and Netto was slightly below the previous year's level at around 19,200.
EDEKA said it invested €2.8 billion in 2023 and plans to invest another €3.1 billion in the current year.
The online supermarket Picnic, in which the EDEKA Group has held a stake since 2018, expanded into several major cities and regions across Germany last year and is now operating in more than 100 places in the country.
