The Edeka Group is the largest German supermarket corporation as of 2017, holding a market share of 25.3%.[3] Founded in 1907, it currently consists of several co-operatives of independent supermarkets, all operating under the umbrella organisation Edeka Zentrale AG & Co KG, with headquarters in Hamburg. There are approximately 4,100 stores with the Edeka nameplate, ranging from small corner stores to hypermarkets. On 16 November 2007, Edeka reached an agreement with Tengelmann to purchase a 70% majority stake in Tengelmann's Plus discounter store division, which was then merged into Edeka's Netto brand, resulting in around 4,200 stores by 2018.[4] Across all brands, the company operated a total of 13,646 stores at the end of 2017.[5]
History
The cooperative was founded in 1907 as the E.d.K. (Einkaufsgenossenschaft der Kolonialwarenhändler im Halleschen Torbezirk zu Berlin, Purchasing Cooperative of Colonial Goods