German supermarkets and their websites

Friday, November 24. 2006

We've been hunting around the 'Net for German supermarkets and other retail stores so that we can prepare our budget. Funny thing though, our dictionary is next to useless in translating German shopping phrases. Anyone else planning to visit Germany using a motorhome or caravan might find some of the links useful. I've also given some basic translations to some of the words and phrases you might find on the supermarket sites.

The supermarkets we've found so far include Real, Penny Markt, Rewe, Kaiser's Tengelmann, Lidl, extra, Aldi (Nord), Aldi (Süd)

When I first started looking through these sites to find prices for groceries I was disappointed with a few of them, some don't seem to give very much info about prices at all, and others seem to require a German postcode before they let you see their pricelist. The translations aren't strictly based on a dictionary. I'm discovering that literal translations just don't work. In emails I've sent to German speakers they have generally not understood me because I've used a dictionary, and this I think could be a major trap for the unwary.

The German language is as rich and full of nuance as English but our dictionaries and language packs will only give us the basics, and my experience so far in trying to communicate with German speakers via email is that spoken German (which must include forum/email German because they are less formal) is not the same is formal written German. Slang pops up, regional differences appear etc. So to cap off this tirade, the supermarket websites use words that would mislead the average English speaker who relies on a dictionary.

Angebot, Angeboten - both mean flyer, mailer, pricelist, printed specials etc
Wochenangeboten, Aktuelle Angebote - this week's pricelist
Angebote Folgewoche - next week's pricelist
PLZ - German postcode (made up of 5 digits)
Sortiment - product range, brands in stock
Billiger - cheap, discounted
Markt-Finder, Marktsuche - store locator, you will need a German postcode.
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in Carl's Journal   Comments (8)

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  1. YellowLed said,

    Friday, November 24. 2006 at 21:55 (Reply)

    A small impression on this: ALDI, LIDL, and Penny Markt are a bit more low-budget (but not necessarily bad!), REWE and Kaiser's try to be a bit more upscale (but not too expensive), Real is more like ... hmmm ... something like Wal-Mart, I guess. Big stores, huge product range, and they have the big packages of everything, too. I don't know extra at all, but some markets are restricted to certain regions.

  2. Carl said,

    Friday, November 24. 2006 at 22:43 (Reply)

    We've got Aldi in Australia, and for basic groceries they are very good, but if you want something a bit more upmarket or unusual... shame about their website, lots of non-food items but nothing else. It would be easy to think they're actually a regular discount store.

    I did wonder about Real, their product range seems more like a hypermarket, are they similar to Auchan or Carrefour in France?

  3. YellowLed said,

    Friday, November 24. 2006 at 23:23 (Reply)

    See, 'hypermarket' *that's* the word I was looking for. I don't know those French markets, but hypermarket, that's exactly it.

    About Aldi, well - that's their policy: attract people with special so that they buy basic stuff there, too. At least that's what they do in Germany.

    Upmarket would be what Rewe wants to be - affordable upmarket. If you're looking for *true* upmarket, you should probably look for "Delikatessen" :-)

  4. Carl said,

    Saturday, November 25. 2006 at 02:56 (Reply)

    Ah, upmarket is for treats. We don't like wasting our money unless the quality really speaks for itself.

    But hey, if you know Wal-mart, does that mean they have stores in Germany? That would be awesome, I used to love whenever I was in the States because I could get stuff in Wal-mart that I couldn't get anywhere else, and if you haven't heard of the French hypermarkets in Germany then Wal-mart would be the next best option, although I suppose if we base ourself in NRW then driving down to France isn't that far.

  5. YellowLed said,

    Sunday, November 26. 2006 at 00:01 (Reply)

    I feel inclined to write 'of course' :-) There's about 50 Wal-Marts in Germany, unfortunately none of them in my federal state (Schleswig-Holstein) :-( But there's quite a bunch of them in NRW, see http://www.wal-mart.de (they even have a market list, albeit in PDF only)

  6. Sven Ediger said,

    Sunday, November 26. 2006 at 22:15 (Reply)

    Carl, i love to read your small problems ;-)

    Take care of "Gammelfleisch" in german supermarkets ;)

  7. Carl said,

    Monday, November 27. 2006 at 01:32 (Reply)

    Oh, that just makes me feel sick, the dictionary calls it spoiled meat, I hope this isn't a German delicacy? Almost as bad as black pudding, which is something I have so far managed to avoid eating. My grandparents never understood my revulsion but there are some things people shouldn't have to eat in the 21st century.

  8. YellowLed said,

    Wednesday, November 29. 2006 at 13:10 (Reply)

    No, it's definitely not a delicacy. We're not Thailand ;->

    It has been discovered lately that some meat vendor have been shipping spoiled meat, a vendor from Passau, Bavaria, being the latest culprit.

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