Rewe.de Exceeds US$1 Billion Where Others Stumble; Knuspr.de Rises Past Bofrost.de

Before the pandemic, grocery eCommerce wasn’t a widespread phenomenon. Covid-19 created a need for online solutions that accelerated the development of Grocery eCommerce retailers. Germany is no different.

Online grocery shopping is one of the fastest-growing eCommerce categories worldwide throughout 2025, but the market differs from country to country. The provider landscape has local features that are not the same worldwide.

ECDB has information on web-based online Grocery solutions that survived the pandemic hype in Germany. Here are four of the most prevalent providers.

Online Grocery Market in Germany Emphasizes Convenience Over Immediacy

Unlike other markets, Germany’s online grocery landscape is less focused on immediacy and more indicative of an extension of existing offerings based on convenience. Globally, Grocery eCommerce generated US$416 billion in 2024. Germany’s market is still small with US$6 billion.

The hype surrounding German online grocery shopping during the pandemic led to a 66.2% market growth in 2020. The following year, 2021, saw growth of 39.8%. However, growth crashed in 2022 when physical stores reopened and online supermarkets began to show signs of weakness. Consequently, the market contracted by 8.7%.

App-based providers like Flink, Gorillas and Getir experienced their heyday during 2020 and 2021, but costs exceeded earnings as soon as the immediate need for online grocery shopping diminished. Now, established players with capital backing dominate the German online grocery market.

Market Role Models Rewe.de and Flaschenpost.de With Capital Backing

Like the rest of the market, the local supermarket chain rewe.de profited from the pandemic. Its revenues surged from US$472.4 million in 2020 to US$863.5 million in 2021. The usual slowdown affected rewe.de as well, but it is slowly recovering to reach a predicted revenue of $1.1 billion by 2025.

Rewe's advantages are its high consumer recognition and trust, as well as its financial backing due to its success as a trusted supermarket chain. Although rewe.de’s offerings are not as immediate as those of online grocery in other countries, the online supermarket delivers products on demand within select time frames.

Close behind rewe.de is flaschenpost.de, a former beverage online retailer that expanded into food after being acquired by the local food manufacturing company Dr. Oetker.

Due to its restructuring, flaschenpost.de did not experience the typical post-pandemic slowdown, but rather continued to grow steadily. Its online net sales grew from US$319.3 million in 2020 to a predicted US$562.5 million in 2025.

However, industry experts question Flaschenpost's long-term potential, as problems with the platform render its offerings problematic. The main issues are product availability and delivery speed.

Smaller Competitors Struggling, But Knuspr.de a Hot Upstart Right Now

Further down the net sales ranking are bofrost.de and knuspr.de. Bofrost is a well-established frozen meal brand, while Knuspr expanded from the Czech Rohlik Group to become a new online supermarket in Germany. Knuspr.de is seeing a fast rise in the market, with convenience and speed-based delivery that other retailers have found hard to maintain.

Bofrost.de was surpassed by newcomer knuspr.de in 2024. Bofrost's online business saw slight increases in net sales during the pandemic but lost momentum and was soon surpassed by the rising Knuspr, which increased its revenues from a debut of US$22.8 million in 2021 to US$248.9 million in 2025.

The issue in German grocery eCommerce is the market's competitiveness and the high cost of maintaining a grocery delivery service with immediacy and a large product assortment. International start-ups with financial backing, such as Getir and Gorillas, were forced to abandon business or leave the market. This left a few large, established players such as rewe.de and flaschenpost.de to pick up the pieces.