Our vision

METRO is a partner of many small and mid-sized independent companies. Their success is our focus. We have made it our goal to lift the food and hospitality sector to a new level and to take advantage of the unique opportunity that the comprehensive digitisation of the industry presents – both for our customers, who can transform their business for long-term prosperity, and for us. By accompanying them on this path, we can foster customer loyalty and tap additional economic potential. Our vision: to deliver sustainable solutions with superior added economic value for independent entrepreneurs.

As a platform, we are working jointly with diverse market players to set tomorrow’s standards: for absolute customer focus, practice-oriented digital solutions and sustainable business models.

The foundation for this is our profitable wholesale segment, which is oriented to business customers and enjoys stable growth rates – because the core of our business is our trusting relationship with our some 21 million customers in 35 countries. We see ourselves as a relationship company.

METRO is furthermore shaped by highly motivated employees who fill our open corporate culture with life. They combine passion, a collaborative approach and outstanding performance in our core business. In boldly pursuing new ideas, they continually challenge the status quo and drive our business forward.

Our self-conception in detail

METRO is setting tomorrow’s standards: for customer focus, digital solutions and sustainable business models.

Customer focus

We firmly believe that our economic success rests on our ability to gain the long-term loyalty of trade professionals and consumers. Loyal customers already account for the larger part of our sales. In our wholesale and food retail operations, we therefore consistently focus on the needs of our core customer groups. Our brands stand for the highest food competence. They demonstrate this with their appropriate offerings and an outstanding shopping experience. Both in the store and by way of our delivery services, through which we are also gaining new customer groups. In everything we do, we rely on the strength of our decentralised organisation to recognise local opportunities early and flexibly and to take advantage of them. This regional orientation systematically strengthens the sustainability of our business model, enabling us to fully realise its potential.

Digital solutions

We view digitisation as a unique opportunity. Like us, independent entrepreneurs in the food and hospitality sector can profit from the new possibilities for approaching customers and gaining their loyalty, and from solutions for greater efficiency in daily operations. We therefore aim, on the one hand, to make digital innovations usable for METRO. On the other, we advance the transformation of the food and hospitality sector with digital solutions. To do so, we cooperate with, among others, external partners such as start-ups. As a platform, we give them access to an attractive market which they could open up independently only with considerable effort. In the medium term, we expect that the newly developed digital offerings will contribute to further setting METRO apart from our competitors, thus further strengthening our customers' loyalty and helping us achieve our growth targets.

Sustainable business models

Continued development and stability are not a contradiction to us: we look far ahead, systematically implementing what is required today and translating it into sustainable business models. In concrete terms, this means that we strive to create as lean an organisation as possible and to constantly increase our efficiency. Moreover, we embrace our environmental and social responsibility in order to ensure the long-term viability of METRO. We are fully committed to this, as well as to enabling our customers to meet high standards in matters of sustainability.