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REWE runs supermarkets and discount stores that sell food and household goods to everyday shoppers.
REWE is one of Germany's biggest grocery businesses. It runs two main kinds of stores: full supermarkets under the REWE name and a discount chain called Penny, where prices are pushed as low as possible. Each serves a slightly different shopper — Penny fights on price, while REWE leans on freshness, brand variety and a bigger range. Both sell the everyday things a household needs: food, drinks, and cleaning and household goods.
The money comes from shoppers filling their baskets. REWE buys goods from suppliers, marks them up, and sells them through its stores. It is a cooperative-rooted company, meaning it grew out of merchant buying groups rather than a single founder's idea, which shapes how it is owned and run. The supermarket game is brutally competitive: razor-thin margins, customers who switch on price, and rivals like Aldi and Lidl pressing hard on the discount side. REWE's edge is scale — buying power across thousands of stores, plus a push into organic food and its own "ja!" and "REWE Beste Wahl" own-brand lines that give shoppers cheaper alternatives to big brands. REWE does not just sell food. It has grown a large travel business, REWE Reisen, selling package holidays and trips, which brings in money beyond the checkout aisle. It also runs home-delivery and pickup services that have expanded as online grocery shopping grew. The stores themselves are mostly rented rather than owned, which keeps the company flexible as it opens, closes or modernizes locations.
The big picture is a giant, low-margin machine that makes its money on volume and efficiency. It keeps investing in its stores, its own brands and its delivery options to hold shoppers against discounters and online players. The interesting tension is that REWE wants to look premium and fresh while also owning one of Germany's toughest discounters — a balancing act that few grocers pull off at this scale.
Saved answer · last researched 15 Nov 2026