Retailing in the Global World:
Case Study of Metro
Zygmunt Mierdorf 1, Murali K. Mantrala2, and Manfred Krafft3
1 CIO, METRO AG, Duesseldorf, Germany
2 University of Missouri, Columbia, USA
3 University of Muenster, Germany
At the end of 2004, Germany’s METRO Group had over 250,000 employees and
an annual turnover of over 56 billion Euro making it the third largest retailer in the
world behind Wal-Mart (a turnover of 213 billion Euro) and Carrefour (73 billion
Euro). Further, nearly half of Metro’s revenues came from outside Germany. The
story of the growth and transformation of Metro from its humble beginnings in the
Ruhr valley of Germany just 40 years ago to its present size and scope as a global
retailing group is an interesting and important case study, particularly from the
viewpoint of providing insights into successful international retailing and global
expansion. In this chapter, we describe and review Metro’s history and strategies
within and outside of Germany, drawing lessons and implications for retailers
interested in international growth.
The METRO Group today, whose management holding group is METRO AG
in Germany, is comprised of six major sales divisions: The “Cash & Carry”
(C&C) stores of the affiliated Metro and Makro companies which make this
Group the worldwide leader in self-service wholesaling, the Real chain of food
hypermarkets, the Extra supermarket chain, the nonfood specialty stores chains
Media Markt and Saturn which are the leading consumer electronics stores in
Europe, the Praktiker store chain which sells home improvement and DIY products,
and the Galeria Kaufhof department store chain. Altogether, METRO Group
now has a presence in 30 countries and its six ...