MediaMarktSaturn, the European consumer electronics retail powerhouse operated by Ceconomy, has laid out an ambitious growth roadmap that places its online marketplace at the center of future earnings. The company has set a target to more than double the gross merchandise value of its marketplace, from €800 million in the financial year 2025/26 to €1.9 billion by the financial year 2028/29. This goal represents one of the most specific and aggressive commitments in the company’s newly published three-year strategy, even as the broader retail giant anticipates only minimal overall revenue growth due to intensifying competition from Amazon and Temu.
The strategy update, which also covered the company’s financial performance for the 2025/26 fiscal year, arrives at a pivotal moment for Ceconomy. The German group is simultaneously navigating a potential change in ownership, with Chinese e-commerce conglomerate JD.com reportedly in talks to acquire the company. That deal has already secured approval from the German government and now awaits clearance from the European Commission. Against this backdrop of ownership uncertainty and competitive pressure, the marketplace GMV target signals that MediaMarktSaturn sees its third-party platform—rather than traditional retail—as the primary engine for future value creation.
Marketplace GMV of €1.9 Billion by 2029: How the Target Breaks Down
What exactly does MediaMarktSaturn’s marketplace GMV target of €1.9 billion by 2028/29 mean in practical terms? The company’s marketplace generated €800 million in GMV during the 2025/26 financial year. To reach €1.9 billion within three fiscal years, the platform must more than double its current transaction volume, representing a compound annual growth rate of approximately 24 to 25 percent over the period. This is a demanding trajectory, but the company has outlined specific levers to make it achievable.
The growth strategy rests on three pillars: geographic expansion, assortment deepening, and seller acquisition. The marketplace will launch in Hungary by September 2026, marking its entry into a new Central European market. Simultaneously, MediaMarktSaturn plans to significantly increase the number of active sellers and SKUs on the platform. The company is also moving beyond its traditional consumer electronics and appliance categories into entirely new verticals. These include pet care, mobility, energy products, health and sports, and baby and kids. Each of these categories represents a market where MediaMarktSaturn has limited legacy retail presence, making the marketplace the natural vehicle for expansion.
Total Revenue and Profitability: Modest Growth Amidst Fierce Competition
While the marketplace target is bold, the company’s overall financial outlook is notably more cautious. MediaMarktSaturn reported total revenue of €23.2 billion for the 2025/26 financial year. By 2028/29, the company expects this figure to reach approximately €24 billion, representing only a 3.4 percent cumulative increase over three years. This modest projection reflects the company’s own acknowledgment that it will likely lose market share in its core categories due to sustained pressure from Amazon and the rapid ascent of Temu in European markets.
Profitability is expected to improve, but again within a measured range. The EBIT margin stood at 2.2 percent in 2025/26, yielding €500 million in absolute earnings. The target for 2028/29 is an EBIT margin of 3.3 percent, which would translate to roughly €800 million. This 50 percent improvement in margin is significant, but it still leaves the company operating on relatively thin returns compared to the most efficient e-commerce operators. The implied message is clear: MediaMarktSaturn is prioritizing marketplace growth and margin expansion over top-line revenue maximization.
The Strategic Omission: No E-Commerce Sales Targets
One of the most striking aspects of the strategy presentation is what it does not include. For the first time in recent years, the company did not set any concrete targets for its overall online sales channels. In previous strategy cycles, MediaMarktSaturn consistently provided specific e-commerce revenue goals, reflecting the company’s digital transformation ambitions. The absence of such targets this year is telling.
What does the lack of e-commerce targets mean for MediaMarktSaturn’s digital strategy? The omission suggests that the company is shifting its focus from first-party online sales to third-party marketplace transactions. This is a fundamental strategic pivot. Rather than measuring success by how much inventory it sells directly through its own websites, MediaMarktSaturn is now betting that the platform model—where external sellers transact with customers on its infrastructure—will drive higher margins, greater assortment breadth, and more resilient growth. The marketplace generates revenue through commissions, advertising, and fulfillment services, rather than through the lower-margin model of buying and reselling goods. This approach also allows the company to compete with Amazon and Temu on assortment without taking on the inventory risk.
How MediaMarktSaturn Plans to Compete with Amazon and Temu
Amazon and Temu represent two very different competitive threats, and MediaMarktSaturn’s strategy must address both. Amazon competes on convenience, speed, and an enormous marketplace with deep penetration across nearly every product category. Temu competes on extreme pricing, driven by a highly efficient supply chain and a business model that prioritizes volume over margin. MediaMarktSaturn cannot beat either player on their own terms, so it is pursuing a differentiated approach rooted in its existing strengths.
The company’s physical retail footprint across Europe remains a significant asset. MediaMarkt and Saturn operate hundreds of stores in major markets, giving them a level of brand recognition and customer trust that pure-play online marketplaces cannot easily replicate. The marketplace strategy leverages this offline presence. Customers can browse products online, check availability in local stores, and choose between home delivery and in-store pickup. For sellers, this means access to a multi-channel distribution model that includes both digital storefronts and physical retail integration.
The expansion into new categories such as pet care, mobility, and energy also reflects a deliberate attempt to reduce dependence on the consumer electronics sector, where competition is most intense. By creating a broader marketplace, MediaMarktSaturn can attract customers who might not otherwise visit its platforms and then cross-sell into its core electronics categories. This category expansion also opens up new advertising revenue opportunities, as brands within these verticals pay for visibility and placement on the marketplace.
What Is MediaMarktSaturn’s Marketplace GMV Target for 2029?
MediaMarktSaturn has set a marketplace GMV target of €1.9 billion by the financial year 2028/29. This represents more than double the €800 million in GMV recorded during the 2025/26 financial year. The company plans to achieve this growth through geographic expansion into Hungary, an increase in seller and SKU counts, and the addition of new product categories including pet care, mobility, energy, health and sports, and baby and kids.
The JD.com Acquisition Factor: Ownership Uncertainty and Strategic Direction
The strategic picture is further complicated by the potential acquisition of Ceconomy by JD.com. The Chinese e-commerce giant was reported to be in talks with Ceconomy in February, and the German government has already approved the sale. The transaction now awaits approval from the European Commission. If the deal proceeds, it would represent one of the most significant cross-border e-commerce acquisitions in European retail history.
How would a JD.com ownership affect MediaMarktSaturn’s marketplace ambitions? JD.com brings deep expertise in marketplace operations, supply chain logistics, and cross-border e-commerce. The Chinese company operates one of the largest and most sophisticated marketplace platforms in the world, with a particular strength in consumer electronics—the very category where MediaMarktSaturn is strongest. A JD.com ownership could accelerate the marketplace expansion by providing capital, technology, and access to a vast network of suppliers and sellers from Asia. It could also create new opportunities for cross-border trade, allowing European sellers on the MediaMarktSaturn marketplace to reach Chinese consumers through JD.com’s platform, and vice versa.
However, the acquisition also introduces regulatory and strategic risks. The European Commission’s review will likely scrutinize the competitive implications of a Chinese-owned company controlling a major European retail platform. There are also questions about data governance, supply chain security, and the long-term independence of the MediaMarktSaturn brand. The uncertainty surrounding the deal may also affect the company’s ability to attract new sellers and invest in platform development, as key decisions could be deferred until the ownership structure is finalized.
Hungary as a Test Market for Geographic Expansion
The decision to launch the marketplace in Hungary by September 2026 is strategically significant. Hungary represents a market where MediaMarktSaturn already has a retail presence, but where e-commerce penetration is still growing. It is also a market that is less saturated with major marketplace competitors than Western European countries such as Germany, France, or the Netherlands. A successful launch in Hungary could serve as a blueprint for expansion into additional Central and Eastern European markets.
For the marketplace to succeed in Hungary, MediaMarktSaturn will need to localize its seller acquisition strategy, payment systems, and logistics infrastructure. The company will also need to compete with local players and with the growing presence of international platforms. The Hungarian launch is not just a growth opportunity in itself—it is a proof of concept for the entire geographic expansion strategy.
Category Expansion as a Competitive Moat
The addition of five new categories—pet care, mobility, energy, health and sports, and baby and kids—represents a significant broadening of the MediaMarktSaturn marketplace. Each of these categories has distinct characteristics that will require the company to develop new capabilities.
Pet care, for example, is a high-frequency, consumable-heavy category that can drive repeat traffic and customer loyalty. Mobility includes products such as e-scooters, electric bikes, and related accessories, which align well with the company’s existing electronics and battery expertise. The energy category covers home energy solutions, including solar panels, battery storage, and smart home energy management systems—a growing market driven by the European energy transition. Health and sports encompasses wearable technology, fitness equipment, and wellness products, while baby and kids includes everything from baby monitors to toys and nursery furniture.
For each of these categories, MediaMarktSaturn must attract specialized sellers who can offer competitive pricing and reliable fulfillment. The company will also need to develop category-specific expertise in areas such as product safety regulations, warranty management, and customer service. If executed well, this category expansion could transform MediaMarktSaturn from a consumer electronics marketplace into a general merchandise platform, significantly increasing its total addressable market.
The Financial Mechanics: From €800 Million to €1.9 Billion in GMV
Achieving €1.9 billion in marketplace GMV by 2028/29 requires a clear understanding of the financial mechanics involved. The current GMV of €800 million in 2025/26 represents a base that must grow by approximately €1.1 billion over three years. This implies adding roughly €367 million in new GMV each year, on average.
Several factors will determine whether this growth rate is sustainable. The first is seller acquisition. MediaMarktSaturn must attract enough new sellers to provide the assortment breadth that customers expect from a modern marketplace. The second is category expansion. The new verticals must generate sufficient transaction volume to contribute meaningfully to the overall GMV. The third is geographic expansion. The Hungarian launch should add incremental GMV, but it will likely be a small contributor in the early years. The fourth is the competitive environment. If Amazon and Temu continue to gain share in MediaMarktSaturn’s core markets, the company’s overall traffic and conversion rates could come under pressure, making it harder to grow marketplace transactions.
The company’s EBIT margin targets also play a role. Marketplace revenues are typically higher margin than first-party retail sales, so as the marketplace grows as a share of total revenue, the overall margin should improve. The target of 3.3 percent EBIT margin by 2028/29 implies that the company expects the marketplace to contribute disproportionately to profitability, even if it remains a relatively small share of total revenue.
What This Means for the European E-Commerce Landscape
MediaMarktSaturn’s marketplace push is part of a broader trend in European retail. Traditional retailers across the continent are increasingly adopting marketplace models to compete with global platforms. The logic is straightforward: a marketplace allows a retailer to offer a much wider assortment than it could ever stock in its own warehouses, without taking on the inventory risk. It also generates higher margins and creates a network effect, where more sellers attract more customers, which in turn attracts more sellers.
However, the European marketplace landscape is becoming increasingly crowded. Amazon dominates the region with a vast selection and deeply entrenched logistics infrastructure. Temu has grown rapidly by offering ultra-low prices, particularly in categories such as fashion, home goods, and electronics accessories. Local players such as Allegro in Poland, Bol in the Netherlands, and Otto in Germany have also built strong market positions. MediaMarktSaturn enters this competitive field with the advantage of an established brand and physical store network, but it will need to execute its strategy with precision to carve out a sustainable position.
The company’s focus on categories such as energy, mobility, and health also reflects a broader shift toward purpose-driven consumption. European consumers are increasingly interested in sustainable products, energy efficiency, and health and wellness. By building marketplace categories around these themes, MediaMarktSaturn is positioning itself to capture demand that is driven by long-term structural trends, rather than by short-term price competition.
Execution Risks and the Path Forward
For all its strategic coherence, the MediaMarktSaturn marketplace plan faces significant execution risks. The most immediate is the uncertainty surrounding the JD.com acquisition. If the deal is delayed or blocked by the European Commission, Ceconomy will need to fund the marketplace expansion from its own resources, which could limit the pace of investment. If the deal proceeds, the integration of JD.com’s technology and seller network will be a complex undertaking that could distract management from the core marketplace buildout.
There is also the risk that the new categories do not gain traction. Pet care, mobility, and energy are all categories where MediaMarktSaturn has limited brand credibility and little existing customer trust. Building the seller base, managing product quality, and creating a compelling customer experience in these categories will require time and investment. If the categories fail to generate meaningful GMV, the company will struggle to reach its €1.9 billion target.
Finally, there is the competitive risk. Amazon is not standing still. The company continues to invest in faster delivery, lower prices, and expanding its own marketplace. Temu is also growing aggressively, and its ability to offer prices that traditional retailers cannot match poses a structural threat to the entire European retail industry. MediaMarktSaturn’s marketplace strategy must be good enough to not only grow, but to grow faster than the market is being reshaped by these global competitors.
The company’s decision to set a specific marketplace GMV target while omitting broader e-commerce goals is a deliberate signal. It tells investors, sellers, and competitors that MediaMarktSaturn is placing its bets on the platform model. The next three years will determine whether that bet pays off, and whether the company can transform itself from a traditional electronics retailer into a genuinely competitive multi-category marketplace platform. The outcome will have implications not just for Ceconomy and its potential new owner, but for the entire European e-commerce ecosystem.
