Wholesaler Metro has launched its first B2B online marketplace for the foodservice industry in Germany.
The product assortment includes more than 20,000 non-food SKUs sourced from around 40 partners, Metro said.
'Most Relevant Online Marketplace'
Chairman of the management board of Metro AG, Olaf Koch, said, "Our aim is to create the greatest and most relevant online marketplace for HoReCa (Hotel, Restaurants, Catering) customers in Europe. Together with trading partners from around the world, we want to offer restaurateurs access to a unique variety of products.
"So we’re making our platform and our strong customer access available to our partners. For Metro, this enlarges our spectrum of services and therefore also our relevance for HoReCa customers."
Customers in Germany can access the online platform via Metro Germany’s country-specific domain www.metro.de.
Philipp Blome, CEO of Metro Markets, commented, "We set ourselves the task of making market access as easy as possible for other retailers and producers – because we’re convinced that we can scale the platform much faster if products can be offered not only by Metro, but also by an infinite number of partners via our marketplace."
Pilot Phase
The online marketplace, which is in a pilot phase, is open to all retailers, producers, and foodservice industry professionals.
The service will be rolled out in other European countries based on the success of the test project, the wholesale giant said.
According to the retail research institute IFH Köln, B2B customers conducted electronic business worth around €1.3 trillion in Germany in 2018.
Websites, online shops, and marketplaces are believed to generate around one-quarter of B2B e-commerce sales, Metro added.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
