New organic supermarkets in the first half year 2011

Research by Organic-Market.Info reveals that in the first half of 2011 in Germany 29 organic supermarkets were opened or increased their size by moving to new premises. This figure means that over the whole year we can expect around 60 new openings, which is a slightly fewer than in 2010 when 65 specialist stores (with more than 200 m² of retail space) and organic supermarkets (more then 400 m²) were created. Three of the new specialist wholefood stores were the result of moving to new premises or extending existing premises. So far in the current year about 14,173 m² have been added to the total retail space – some 6 % less than in the same period in 2010 (15,086 m²). 700 m² were closed down as businesses moved or ceased to exist. (Picture: In April Marlene Svedas opened a 280 m² organic store belonging to Regionalwert AG in Breisach)
For the rest of this year new launches and expansions are being planned, and some have already taken place in July, including organic supermarkets belonging to the companies Alnatura, Bio Company, denn’s Bio, ebl., Naturata and SuperBioMarkt. If we assume there will be over the whole year 55-60 new organic supermarkets of the size of those in the first half-year, roughly 28,000 m² of new retail space will be added in 2011, and the total number of stores in Germany will rise to over 630. The increase last year was 65 new stores, of which 36 (approximately 55 %) were outlets belonging to an organic chain. By the end of December 2010 about 30,000 m² of new retail space were created, of which the chains accounted for 53 %.

From January to June 2011 the chains were responsible for well over half of the new launches (65 %) and of the new retail space. They opened 19 stores in Berlin, Buchholz, Erlangen, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Hamburg (picture: denn’s bio in Hamburg-Schanze), Hanover, Cologne, Lüneburg, Meerbusch, Munich, Nuremberg, Pforzheim and Schweinfurt. In the first six mnths of this year the average retail area of independent stores was 452 m², which is considerably below the 508 m² of the chain stores. There are currently 17 chains with 282 stores in the organic supermarket sector in Germany.

First half year 2011	Number	Retail Space	Average Retail Space
Chains	19 (65.5 %)	9,653 m² (68 %)	508 m²
Independent stores	10 (34.5 %)	4,520 m² (32 %)	452 m²

In terms of numbers, Dennree with 64 denn’s Biomarkt stores in Germany (32,574 m²) and five in Austria has overtaken Alnatura for the first time. In the first half-year of 2011 Dennree opened eight new stores (3,913 m²), one of which was again in collaboration with the regional chain Füllhorn that has its headquarters near Karlsruhe (see our earlier report). The locations of the new stores are Hamburg (picture above left), Hanover, Cologne, Lüneburg, Meerbusch, Munich, Pforzheim and Schweinfurt.

Dennree is followed closely by Alnatura that now has 61 stores (35,846 m²) across the whole of Germany. Alnatura opened its first new store store in Hamburg in March 2011, its second in Freiburg (picture) in April and a third in Frankfurt in May. All three totalled 1,300 m². The 450 m² store in Kassel was closed and re-opened by Naturkost West. By the end of the year Alnatura plans to have 70 SuperNaturMarkt stores.

In the case of Bio Company, that has its headquarters in the capital, two new stores have so far been opened this year – in Reichsstraße in Berlin in February and in Friedrichsstraße in March.

The regional chains are also continuing to expand in Bavaria, with Ebl opening stores in Nuremberg and Erlangen in May and June and Vollcorner (picture) establishing two more stores in in Munich. Vollcorner now operates nine stores (see our earlier report). Aleco opened its eighth outlet in Buchholz and the Berlin company LPG launched its sixth store in Friedenau.

The regional distribution of new stores by federal state is as follows: in the lead is Bavaria with nine, and Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia are in second place with with four each. Then come Berlin, Hamburg, Hessen and Lower Saxony in third place, each with three new outlets. No new organic supermarkets were opened in the east of Germany in the first six months of 2011.

Conclusion: in spite of increasingly intense competition the success story of the organic supermarket is continuing. However, the ratio of independent operators and chains is clearly reaching a tipping point. As a rule, the chains are in a much better position in terms of finance and know-how, and they have the advantage therefore over independent operators. It’s interesting to note that you see hardly any sign of the financial crisis of recent years. The current growth in turnover in organic supermarkets is testimony to the interest of many companies in expansion and investment. (Picture: Launch day of the joint project Denn’s Bio-Markt in Pforzheim operated by Dennree and Füllhorn/owner Wolgang Mayer)