Start selling on Kaufland Global Marketplace and the software offers arrive quickly: integrations, repricers, ERP, accounting packages, analytics. On day one you need far less than those lists suggest, because the Kaufland Seller Portal already does a good part of the work.
This article sorts the types of tools: what Kaufland provides itself, what each kind of extra software solves, what to check before you choose and what you need at which stage. Every fact about Kaufland comes from the Seller University and Kaufland's partner pages; the sources are listed at the end. If you have not registered yet, start with how to sell on Kaufland.
Start with what Kaufland provides
Before you buy anything, look at what is already in the Seller Portal. Several things that are a separate tool elsewhere are built in.
- Global Dashboard. The Seller Portal home page shows all your active sales channels side by side: sales, open tasks, service KPIs and reports, without switching between countries. Kaufland still labels it a beta version.
- Smart Pricing. Automatic price adjustment between your offer price and a minimum price you set. Entering a minimum price switches it on. Smart Pricing Standard sets your price to the second-best offer when you win the Buy Box; Smart Pricing Plus also takes the lowest price online into account. It never goes below your minimum price.
- Product data translation. Kaufland translates your existing product data free of charge for its other marketplaces. You turn it on under Shop Settings, tab “Translation & transfer”.
- Inventory sync between Kaufland channels. You pick one source channel and Kaufland keeps offers, prices, stock and handling times up to date in the target channels. It works between Kaufland marketplaces, not with your own shop or other marketplaces.
- Sponsored Product Ads. Ads on search, category and product pages. You pay per click, not per impression, with a minimum bid of €0.01. With automatic bidding you set a target ACoS between 5 and 50%.
- Reports. Among others: price competitiveness (with market price and Buy Box price), bookings, sales, tickets, cancellations and invalid items, as downloads.
The types of tools and what they solve
Kaufland groups its technology partners into accounting, ERP, fulfilment, customer service, middleware, invoicing, repricing, shop systems and shipping. For a seller that comes down to these groups:
- Integration or multichannel software. Connects your web shop and several marketplaces so offers, stock and orders sit in one place. Needed as soon as the same stock sells on more than one channel.
- ERP and inventory management. Purchasing, warehouse, stock and order processing for all channels. Worth it once you have more items and orders than you can keep up with by hand.
- Repricer. Adjusts prices by rules or competition. On Kaufland, Smart Pricing already covers part of this. Never let two systems control the same price.
- Accounting, invoices and VAT. If you sell to consumers in other EU countries, the VAT of the buyer's country applies above the EU-wide threshold of €10,000. The One-Stop-Shop (OSS) lets you report that in one return. Your accounting software has to split sales by country. The EU distance selling threshold tool shows where you stand.
- Analytics and profit. Revenue says little. A profit tool deducts commission, shipping, purchase cost and VAT and shows what is left per product. You can check a single price for free with the profit calculator.
- Product research. Shows what is in demand on Kaufland and what you do not sell yet, so you add products based on demand rather than gut feeling. How to go about it is explained in our guide on what to sell on Kaufland.
Besides software, Kaufland runs a service partner network for EPR, legal and tax advice and product photos.
What to check before you choose
- Does the tool use the official Kaufland Seller API? Kaufland names two routes: connect through a partner or build your own connection on the Seller API. A tool that works with the API keys from your Seller Portal does not need your password.
- Is the provider in Kaufland's partner network? There you filter by area, marketplace and language. Kaufland shows an integration score per partner: order management weighs about 45%, offers 30%, product data 20% and tickets 5%. A higher score means more Kaufland processes are automated.
- Does it support your countries and languages? Check every Kaufland marketplace you sell on or plan to, and the language of the tool and its support.
- How is it priced? A fixed monthly fee, a percentage of revenue or a price per order. Work out what it costs at twice your current order volume.
- Where is your data? A tool that processes customer data from your orders is a processor under the GDPR. Ask for a data processing agreement and where the data is stored.
- Can you try it? A trial with your own account tells you more than a demo. Check how you cancel and what happens to your data afterwards.
What you need at which stage
When you start with a few hundred products in one Kaufland country, the Seller Portal, Smart Pricing, your accounting software and a view of profit per product go a long way. Buy something only when a task costs you time every day.
When you sell the same stock elsewhere, on your own shop or another marketplace, stock is the main risk. If the numbers do not match, you sell items you no longer have. Kaufland's inventory sync does not cover other platforms, so you need integration software or an ERP that serves all of them.
When you grow into more countries, use Kaufland's translation and inventory sync and make sure your accounting handles OSS. Kaufland also states that sellers selling to consumers in Germany must provide a German VAT number, or, as EU sellers using OSS, the VAT number of their OSS country. From this point a tool that shows profit per product and country pays off, as does product research for new items.
A tool built only for Kaufland
Next to broad multichannel software there are tools that focus on one marketplace. Sellgrip is one example: every morning a list of what needs doing today, with Kaufland's deadlines, and profit per product after commission, shipping and purchase cost. The Ad limit shows for each product which target ACoS for Sponsored Product Ads still leaves a profit, with an EAN list per campaign to paste into Kaufland Ads. In the Business plan, Opportunities shows Kaufland bestsellers you do not sell yet. Sellgrip works through the Seller API in all nine Kaufland countries and languages. The free plan covers one country and up to 50 orders a month, Pro up to 1,000 and Business up to 10,000. You can try Business free for 30 days when you sign up by 31 December; details are on the pricing page.
