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At Aldi, Lidl, Rewe and Edeka: This will change when shopping in 2025

by Mayra

At Aldi, Lidl, Rewe and Edeka: This will change when shopping in 2025

The New Year is just around the corner in a few days. And a lot will change in the supermarket in 2025. FOCUS online says what customers have to prepare for at Aldi, Lidl, Rewe or Edeka.

  • In the video: Where you can use the Deutschland Card from 2025 – and where you can no longer use it

The year 2024 is coming to an end. It was characterized by some technical problems, a double checkout at Aldi Süd, a number of price increases and, at least towards the end of the year, lots of bargains.

The large discounters have recently increasingly relied on self-service checkouts and digital price tags. They also tested food delivery services in large cities and increasingly invested in city branches – often where other companies such as Galeria had previously moved out. Lidl, Edeka and Aldi followed suit.

Supermarkets also developed new store concepts and launched new apps. This trend is likely to continue unabated in the coming year. But what will change for consumers? FOCUS online summarizes the most important changes.

Out for Payback at Rewe and Penny

Next year, Payback will celebrate its 25th anniversary – and is facing the biggest changes in its history. The popular bonus program brings important innovations for its 31 million customers: Rewe and Penny will say goodbye to the program on December 28th.

Both retailers start their own customer loyalty program a day later. The first functions are already visible in the apps of both companies, but have not yet been activated. “There are contractual reasons for this,” explains an insider.

Pet owners also have to adapt. Fressnapf, also part of Rewe, is withdrawing from the program and wants to strengthen its own bonus program “Fressnapf Friends” from 2025. Payback and the new loyalty program will continue to run until the end of January.

Payback reacts and strengthens its own program “PAYBACK Animal World”. It started in Austria last year and is now coming to Germany. FOCUS online has already tested it: Anyone who buys certain animal products from retailers can collect additional points and then exchange them for discounts or products.

From 2025, Sparkasse customers will no longer need a Payback card

From 2025, millions of Sparkasse customers will be able to collect Payback bonus points directly when making cashless payments with the plastic card, which is often still popularly known as the “EC card”. The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe and Payback negotiated this for several months, and the contract was signed at the end of 2023. The savings banks recently made extensive technical changes for this purpose.

Sparkasse customers do not need to have a separate card from the bonus system with them to collect Payback points: the points are automatically credited when paying with the Girocard at the store checkout.

Payback users can collect bonus points when shopping at around 700 partner companies such as gas stations, drugstores and supermarkets in order to later exchange them for rewards or vouchers.

Payback will be valid at Edeka and Netto Marken-Discount from 2025

While Rewe and Penny are withdrawing from the Payback program, Edeka and Netto Marken-Discount are following suit: from January 1, 2025, customers can collect points there. Preparations are already underway at Edeka, such as converting the cash register systems so that consumers can get started on time for the beginning of the year.

At the same time, Edeka and Netto Marken-Discount will be leaving the DeutschlandCard network together at the end of February. This card will no longer be valid in branches from March 1, 2025. The points do not expire. DeutschlandCard holders can then continue to redeem vouchers and points at Esso, Hammer, ROFU, OfficeCentre, sonnenklar.TV or Vergölst Reifen- und Autoservice.

Important deposit change in drinks and supermarkets

From January 1, 2025, supermarkets, discounters and retailers are legally obliged to offer at least one reusable alternative for various beverage categories. The regulation applies to beer, water, juice, milk and other non-alcoholic drinks.

The measure has several goals: On the one hand, the range of reusable packaging is to be expanded and the proportion of reusable solutions is to be significantly increased. On the other hand, consumers’ freedom of choice should be strengthened, while the ecological footprint of the beverage sector is reduced by reducing single-use packaging.

For customers, this means more choice of more environmentally friendly packaging options and greater promotion of sustainable consumption from 2025.

At Aldi, Lidl and Penny: Obligation to take back reusable bottles

Many discounters and supermarkets are already doing it. From January 1, 2025, returning deposit bottles will be much easier. The reason for this is the introduction of an obligation to take back reusable beverage packaging. This is what a novella looks like Packaging Act (VerpackG4). Parts of it have already been approved, others would then have to be put to a vote by the new federal government. In the future, retailers should take back all reusable packaging and its outer packaging – regardless of which brand or distribution channel it comes from.

So far, retailers are only obliged to accept returnable bottles of their own brands. The new regulation will primarily relieve the burden on consumers, who will be able to return reusable bottles easily.

However, the take-back obligation only applies to dealers with one Sales area of ​​more than 200 square meters. Smaller businesses are exempt from this regulation. For comparison: an average Aldi branch usually has a sales area of ​​1000 to 1500 square meters.

This measure is intended to make it easier to return reusable packaging and thus take a further step towards a sustainable circular economy.

When returnable bottle collectors have to pay taxes

From January 1, 2025, the basic allowance is set to increase by 312 euros to 12,096 euros. However, the final decision lies with the new federal government, which will be elected from February 23rd and still has to approve the proposal.

For returnable bottle collectors, this could mean that they have to pay taxes under certain circumstances. This applies if the tax investigators classify the activity as commercial due to the regularity and amount of income. To do this, however, a person would have to collect over 48,384 deposit bottles per year – or the equivalent of 132 bottles and cans per day.

“No taxes are levied on returnable bottles,” explains Stephan Eckert, a tax clerk from Munich. Deposit collectors also don’t have to worry about having to pay taxes for collecting. It could look different if deposit collectors work together in a targeted manner and make profits of several thousand euros per week – in this case, an intention to make a profit could be assumed. Then taxes would have to be paid on it.

The “Tomra R1” deposit machine developed in Norway Glomex

Less cheap meat and more organic vegetables

After Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd have removed cheap meat from their range at a rapid pace since 2021, this trend is also continuing at other retailers. More and more retailers have announced that they will gradually switch from the worst husbandry methods one and two to better husbandry methods by the end of 2025. Kaufland recently announced that it would focus more on organic meat.

According to an estimate by Greenpeace, the proportion of fresh meat products labeled with farming method 1 has halved from 34 percent (2021) to 19 percent this year.

For consumers, this means they may face rising meat prices. Development has been dynamic so far. There were ups and downs in prices for pork, chicken and beef last year. The change in stable keeping costs money, which many companies also have to pass on to customers.

Discounters and supermarkets will also be focusing on organic products in the vegetable and fruit counters next year. Regional farmers are contracted for this purpose. For marketing expert Martin Fassnacht from the WHU Business School, this commitment is not least a response to growing pressure from the public. “Consumers today expect retail chains to care about issues such as sustainability and animal welfare.”

Automation with robots and AI

The use of robots and artificial intelligence (AI) in stores is increasing significantly. Most recently, targeted tests were carried out in supermarkets, discount stores and hardware stores. For example, robots carried out inventory during a test run in two Kaufland stores. Robots are already helping with product searches at individual Edeka and Rewe stores. The topic of data and AI is playing an increasingly important role in German retail. An important example is the Schwarz Group, which includes Kaufland and Lidl.

The billion-dollar company founded the subsidiary Schwarz Digits. Existing units such as Schwarz IT, Schwarz Digital, STACKIT, XM Cyber, Kaufland e-commerce, Lidl e-commerce, Schwarz Media and mmmake were merged. The company now employs more than 7,500 people. A key goal is to use AI-powered systems to analyze customer ordering and shopping behavior to develop personalized recommendations and tailored offers.

At Aldi, Lidl, Rewe and Edeka: This will change when shopping in 2025

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At Aldi, Lidl, Rewe and Edeka: This will change when shopping in 2025

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