5 Takeaways From the First Six Months of Rewe’s Fully Plant-Based Supermarket in Germany

It’s been six months since German retailer Rewe opened Voll Pflanzlich, a fully vegan supermarket in Berlin. Here are the company’s major learnings.

There have been a number of progress markers for Rewe, the German retail giant, and its 100% plant-based supermarket on Berlin’s Warschauer Brücke since it opened in April.

Rewe Voll Pflanzlich, or Fully Plant-Based, houses more than 2,700 products from over 300 brands in the 212 sq m space, including its own-label ranges Bio, Rewe Beste Wahl, Vivess and ja!, industry leaders like Oatly, Alpro and Beyond Meat, and challenger brands such as Not Guilty, For Foodies and Greenforce.

The company has conducted a six-month review of the store, which offers nearly twice as many animal-free products as even the most vegan-friendly Rewe locations, to find which products sell best, what consumers like most, and what the future of the concept looks like.

Here are the key takeaways:

1) The ‘fully plant-based’ marketing works

Germany remains Europe’s largest market for vegan food, and it’s one driven largely by the growth of private-label brands. Retail sales were up by 8% in 2023, reaching €2.2B, but branded products only increased their value by 5% – the rest was thanks to a 20% rise in own-label sales.

While there have been lots of debate around the use of terms like ‘plant-based’ and ‘vegan’ in a bid to court flexitarians, Rewe suggests the ‘Fully Plant-Based’ moniker appeals to its clientele. Around 5,500 shoppers flock to the store each week, and are most heartened by the fact that they can find a full range of vegan products, from produce and baked goods to chilled products and drug store items without having to question labels.

Being able to “simply reach for all shelves” without hesitation, it seems, is a major plus point for consumers.

“In my regular [super]market, plant-based products also sell very well. But flexitarians tend to shop there, and the shopping baskets are a mixed bag,” explained store manager Dennis Henkelmann. “In the plant-based [super]market, it is more vegans who consciously only want to buy purely plant-based products.”

2) Convenience is, as always, king

Looking at the top-selling products at Rewe Voll Pflanzlich, it’s clear that Germans hold convenience dear to their purchasing decisions. The store sold around 6,000 chocolate croissants and Franzbrötchen (a kind of cinnamon roll) in the first six months, making these baked goods the most popular options among shoppers.

Homemade snack rolls like spelt schnitzel, smoked tofu, and fresh coconut-almond-based cream cheese were also among the bestsellers, as were fruits and vegetables – Rewe Bio’s own-brand cucumbers and bananas were the most popular produce items.

It chimes with research suggesting that 72% of Germans are buyers of convenience food and drink products, a number that rises to 90% among 16- to 34-year-olds, a demographic more likely to be cutting back on animal protein.

3) The cream cheese shift is real

The success of the non-dairy cream cheeses prompted the team to expand from its savoury spring onion and pepper varieties to offer sweet options like mango and raspberry.

This should come as no surprise – cream cheese has taken over hard cheese as the most popular type of branded vegan cheese in Germany this year, accounting for 45% of the segment’s sales in the first four months of 2024 (versus 39% in 20230). It makes good business sense for Rewe to develop its own at a cheaper cost, given that private-label plant-based cheese is 36% cheaper than branded versions in the country.

Speaking of dairy alternatives, Rewe’s creamy oat-based Sovteis (soft-serve), which is also self-serve, was among the top 10 products too.

4) Listening to shoppers will only help supermarkets

Shortly after the store opened, the marketing team at Rewe placed a wish board at the entrance, where customers could write what kind of products they wanted. “We also receive really good suggestions via our Instagram profile, which we check out,” said product manager Isabell Kroll.

“We are all about getting new items onto the shelves as quickly as possible,” she added. Potato milk, vegan broths and tofu finishes all began appearing on-shelf in the last few months. “We also want to fulfil customer requests, which is why we added pickles, regional mustard and various types of liquid smoke,” Kroll revealed.

5) The concept is a testbed for future vegan stores

While Rewe has made a number of gains with the new store, the company indicated that it is still only six months in and the concept remains in the test phase. “We will see in the coming year whether customers will accept a purely plant-based food range in the long term,” said Henkelmann.

Rewe CEO Peter Maly said he was satisfied with the development of the Fully Plant-Based store: “Opening a purely plant-based store in the current market environment was a bold step. But we knew that we have great expertise in the vegan range and a lot of experience from our more than 3,800 supermarkets nationwide.

“So far, the initial figures and feedback from customers have confirmed that the idea of ​​a plant-based full-range store can work in the right location and in the right space.”

Over 90,000 people cross the bridge the store is located on every day, and with an S-Bahn station and a large number of office buildings in the immediate vicinity, there’s ample potential for greater footfall.

“We will decide at a later date whether we will open further purely plant-based supermarkets,” said Maly. “Our REWE Rewe and customers nationwide are already benefiting from the products that we are testing first at Rewe Voll Pflanzlich in Berlin and then making available to everyone in the product range.”