real.de Integration: Migration to Kaufland.de & Seamless Seller Transition

What happened to real.de? — Timeline 2020–2021

From real,- to real.de to Kaufland.de

The roots of real,- go back to 1992, when Metro AG founded the self-service hypermarket chain real,- by merging several regional consumer-goods retailers (massa, esbella, real Kauf, Continent). With more than 280 stores, real,- became one of the largest hypermarket chains in Germany. The online platform real.de launched around 2010 as the e-commerce arm of Metro Group and quickly grew into the third-largest German marketplace behind Amazon and eBay.

In February 2020, Metro AG sold the real,- group to the Russian SCP Group; the digital business real.de was sold separately to Schwarz Group. Schwarz Group — parent company of Lidl and Kaufland — used this acquisition to dramatically accelerate the build-out of its own online marketplace. Until then, the Kaufland Group had operated primarily in brick-and-mortar grocery retail.

In spring 2021, the full rebrand took place: real.de was shut down and replaced by Kaufland.de. All listings, seller ratings, buyer reviews, order histories and seller accounts were migrated one to one. URLs such as real.de/produkt/... have since redirected to kaufland.de/produkt/... (301 redirects). The real.de Sellerportal was transitioned into the Kaufland Sellerportal.

What happened to the real.de API a year later?

The legacy real.de Marketplace API (base URL https://www.real.de/api/v1/) was kept as a compatibility layer in 2021, but was permanently sunset during 2022. Any code still running against the old real.de API today receives only HTTP 410 responses. The official successor interface is the Kaufland Sellerportal API (base https://sellerapi.kaufland.com/v2/), with a different authentication scheme, new endpoints and a redesigned order data model.

Are my real.de listings still online?

Yes, fully. If you were active as a merchant on real.de before 2021, you will find your products unchanged on kaufland.de today. The 2021 migration covered:

• All product listings — title, description, images, EAN, variants
• Seller profile and shop name (transferred, with the option to rename)
• Seller ratings and buyer reviews (transferred one to one)
• Order history for the last 24 months (for tax and warranty purposes)
• Prices, stock levels and shipping profiles
• Categorization (mapped to the new Kaufland category tree)

What has changed is the technical access: Sellerportal URL, API endpoints, webhook targets and the order ID format (from RD-... to KL-...). Anyone who has not made a technical adjustment since 2021 most likely has a broken sync pipeline today — even if the listings themselves are still live.

How do I switch from real.de API to Kaufland API?

Key differences between the two APIs

Migrating from the legacy real.de API to the Kaufland Sellerportal API involves more than just changing the base URL. The most important points at a glance:

Aspect	real.de API (until 2022)	Kaufland Sellerportal API (since 2021)
Base URL	real.de/api/v1/	sellerapi.kaufland.com/v2/
Authentication	OAuth 1.0 + Consumer Key	Client-Key + HMAC signature (SHA-256)
Order ID	RD-12345678	KL-72481 (new format)
Webhook format	XML push	JSON push over HTTPS
Inventory update	Bulk max 50 items	Bulk max 200 items/request
Carriers	DHL, Hermes	DHL, Hermes, DPD, GLS, UPS
Multi-country	DE only	DE, AT, CZ, SK, PL

Migration checklist

1. Activate Kaufland Sellerportal access — sellerportal.kaufland.de, if not yet done
2. Generate Client-Key and Secret-Key — under "Settings → API"
3. Re-register webhook endpoints — legacy real.de webhooks have been inactive since 2022
4. Order ID mapping — your database should keep both legacy RD-... and new KL-... IDs
5. Update carrier codes — Kaufland uses different carrier IDs than real.de
6. Switch VAT calculation — Kaufland expects gross listing prices including 19%/7% VAT
7. Enable XRechnung integration — mandatory for B2B orders since 2025

Migration of my seller ratings, listings and reviews

One of the most common concerns from former real.de merchants: "Will I lose the reputation I built up over years?" The clear answer: No. Schwarz Group explicitly ensured in 2021 that all sellers retained their history:

• Star rating (1–5) was transferred as an average with the total number of ratings
• Written buyer reviews were transferred with original date and buyer pseudonym
• Seller awards such as "Top Seller" were translated into Kaufland status tiers
• Response times and cancellation rates from the last 12 months fed into the initial Kaufland performance score
• Warranty and guarantee cases from the last 24 months remain accessible

Anyone who shone on real.de with 4.7 stars therefore starts on Kaufland.de with the same rating. New buyer reviews are added on top — a rare and merchant-friendly approach that no other major marketplace migration in Germany has implemented in this way.

Kaufland.de vs. real.de — what has changed?

Beyond the pure brand change, many aspects of the marketplace have evolved between 2021 and 2026. The most important changes compared to real.de:

Area	real.de (until 2021)	Kaufland.de (today)
Owner	Metro AG (until 02/2020), then Schwarz Group	Schwarz Group (Lidl / Kaufland)
GMV (marketplace)	~€800M (2020, peak)	~€4B (2024)
Number of sellers	~5,000	~32,000 (as of 2025)
Active buyers	~10M/month (2020)	~36M/month (2024)
Commission	5–18%	3–18%
Base fee	€39.95 / month	€39.95 / month (unchanged)
Countries	DE only	DE, AT, CZ, SK, PL
Fulfillment	Self-ship	Self-ship + "Fulfillment by Kaufland" (pilot)
API	OAuth 1.0, XML	HMAC, JSON, REST
Invoicing requirement	Standard PDF	XRechnung / ZUGFeRD for B2B

About Kaufland.de Marketplace (real.de successor)

Group and brand structure

Today's Kaufland.de Marketplace is part of Schwarz Group, headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg. Schwarz Group is the largest food retailer in Europe and the fourth-largest retail group in the world, with more than 575,000 employees and revenue of around €167 billion (fiscal year 2024). Sister brands include Lidl (discount supermarkets), Kaufland (hypermarkets), Schwarz Produktion and PreZero (recycling).

With the acquisition of real.de in February 2020, Schwarz Group pursued the strategic goal of building its own independent online marketplace platform — as an answer to Amazon's market dominance in German-speaking e-commerce. Until then, Schwarz had focused its online business primarily on the Lidl online shop.

Position in German e-commerce

Kaufland.de is, after Amazon.de and ebay.de, the third-largest general online marketplace in the DACH region and the second-largest German-owned marketplace (i.e. excluding Amazon). In 2024, the marketplace generated a GMV of around €4 billion with more than 32,000 active merchants and around 36 million monthly active buyers. That makes the platform five times larger than the real.de marketplace at the time of acquisition.

Kaufland.de sales volume and size (2024–2025)

Since the 2021 rebrand, Kaufland.de has been one of the fastest-growing marketplace platforms in Germany. Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and order counts have grown 35% to 60% year over year.

Year	GMV (EUR)	Orders	Active buyers/month	Active sellers
2020 (real.de peak)	~€800M	~28M	~10M	~5,000
2022 (post-rebrand)	~€1.7B	~62M	~22M	~14,000
2024	~€4B	~140M	~36M	~32,000
2025 (forecast)	~€5.5B	~190M	~42M	~38,000

The growth engine lies in the multi-country expansion (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland), the Lidl-Plus customer integration and the in-house advertising platform "Kaufland Ads", which gives former real.de sellers their first access to sponsored listings on search result pages.

Seller registration on Kaufland.de (former real.de)

1. Legal and tax prerequisites

The same requirements that applied on real.de apply when registering as a merchant on Kaufland.de — with a few tightenings since the 2022 GDPR adjustment and the 2024 Packaging Act:

• Trade registration or commercial register entry (sole proprietorship, UG, GmbH, AG)
• VAT identification number (USt-IdNr.) under §27a UStG
• LUCID number from the packaging register (Packaging Act, §9 VerpackG)
• WEEE registration for electrical devices (Electrical Equipment Act)
• Imprint, terms, withdrawal policy and privacy notice under German law
• SEPA bank account in the EU (payouts are made every two weeks)
• Trademark evidence for registered brands (toys, cosmetics, food)

2. Sellerportal registration

Registration takes place at sellerportal.kaufland.de. Review typically takes 5–10 business days. Once approved, you receive your Seller ID, Client-Key and Secret-Key — the three values you enter for the Zunapro integration.

3. Listing rules and content quality

Kaufland.de sets higher product presentation requirements than real.de did:

• Product title: 50–150 characters, brand + model + main feature
• Product images: white background, at least 1,000×1,000 px, max 12 images, no watermarks
• Description: HTML allowed, at least 250 characters
• EAN/GTIN: mandatory for branded items
• Category mapping: Kaufland category ID + required attributes
• Content score: at least 80/100, otherwise no ranking position

Kaufland.de commissions 2026 (previously: real.de)

The commission structure on Kaufland.de ranges from 3% to 18% depending on the category. In most areas this is lower than on real.de, which charged 5% to 18%. On top, there is a monthly base fee of €39.95 and statutory VAT (19% or 7%).

Calculating net margin: Sale price − commission − VAT − shipping − cost of goods = net profit. The Zunapro pricing module performs this calculation per item and category automatically and warns when margins fall below your minimum threshold.

Kaufland Sellerportal API — Technical details

The Kaufland Sellerportal API is a RESTful interface that lets sellers programmatically sync listings, stock, prices, orders, shipping and returns. Base URL: https://sellerapi.kaufland.com/v2/

Authentication

The API uses an HMAC-SHA-256 signature based on Client-Key and Secret-Key. Every request includes the headers Shop-Client-Key, Shop-Timestamp and Shop-Signature. There is no token expiry; for security reasons keys should be rotated annually.

Main endpoint groups

• Units API — create and update listings, variants and EAN mapping
• Inventory API — stock and price (bulk endpoint max 200 items/request)
• Orders API — fetch orders, set status, generate parcels
• Shipments API — create shipping labels, submit tracking numbers
• Refunds API — manage returns and refunds
• Reports API — payouts, settlements, VAT reports
• Webhooks — JSON push for order, stock and return events

Rate limits and error handling

The rate limit is 15 requests per second per merchant. Exceeding it returns 429 Too Many Requests. Common errors: 400 (invalid fields), 401 (HMAC signature invalid), 404 (item/category unknown), 422 (validation error, e.g. missing EAN), 500 (server-side error — retry recommended). The Zunapro connector resolves these errors automatically via exponential backoff and a dead-letter queue.

Shipping and Kaufland Fulfillment (DHL, Hermes, DPD, GLS)

Kaufland.de supports the carriers DHL, Hermes, DPD, GLS and UPS. Compared to real.de — where in practice only DHL and Hermes were integrated — the lineup has become significantly broader. Shipping profiles are defined in the Sellerportal per weight class, size and destination country.

Since late 2024, the "Fulfillment by Kaufland" (FbK) pilot is also running, allowing merchants to store inventory in Kaufland warehouses in southern and western Germany. Kaufland handles storage, picking, shipping and returns processing. Program admission is by invitation and is worthwhile for merchants with more than 500 orders/month.

Multi-country: DE + AT + CZ + SK + PL

One of the most significant expansions since real.de is the multi-country expansion. The Kaufland Sellerportal lets you serve the following countries with a single account:

• kaufland.de — Germany (primary market)
• kaufland.at — Austria (since 2022)
• kaufland.cz — Czech Republic (since 2022)
• kaufland.sk — Slovakia (since 2023)
• kaufland.pl — Poland (since 2024)

Listings can be activated per country with individual price, shipping and language settings. Zunapro supports this multi-country configuration from a central panel — including automatic translation of product descriptions.

Kaufland performance score and cancellation rates

Kaufland.de rates every merchant on a performance score from 0–100. This score determines whether you receive the "Trusted Seller" badge and the order in which your items appear in search ranking. Key drivers:

• Cancellation rate — above 2% triggers a warning, above 5% leads to account suspension
• Late ship confirmation — shipping must occur within the stated handling time
• Return rate — observe the industry benchmark (fashion up to 40% is natural)
• Buyer reviews — average should be above 4.2 / 5
• Response times — reply to buyer inquiries within 24 hours

The Zunapro stock sync keeps out-of-stock cancellations effectively at zero — sales on your shop, in the warehouse and on other marketplaces update Kaufland in 3–5 seconds.

Kaufland Ads and repricing

Kaufland Ads (formerly real.de Ads)

• Sponsored Products — ads in search result lists (CPC-based)
• Display banners — brand awareness on landing pages
• Promotion campaigns — top-deal placements, often linked to Lidl Plus
• Multi-country campaigns — one campaign, five markets

Repricer

On Kaufland.de — unlike on Amazon — there is no classic buy-box, but the search ranking is price-sensitive. The Zunapro Repricer adjusts prices to competitors every second while respecting your minimum margin.

XRechnung, VAT and the Packaging Act

Compared to real.de days, regulatory requirements have tightened significantly. Anyone selling on Kaufland.de must comply with the following obligations:

• XRechnung / ZUGFeRD — mandatory for all B2B orders in Germany since 2025
• VAT calculation 19% standard rate, 7% reduced (books, food)
• GDPR — full record of processing activities and data processing agreements
• Packaging Act — LUCID registration and annual volume report to the central authority
• GoBD-compliant archiving — invoices stored for 10 years in an audit-proof way
• OSS procedure — for cross-border EU shipping above the €10,000 revenue threshold

The Zunapro module "E-Invoicing Germany" automatically generates an XRechnung or ZUGFeRD PDF for every Kaufland order, sends it to the buyer and archives it in a GoBD-compliant manner.

Kaufland returns and customer service

In Germany, return rates run at 30–45% in fashion, 5–10% in electronics and 10–15% in household. Inefficient returns processing directly impacts the performance score.

Standard returns process:

1. Buyer files the return in the Kaufland buyer portal within 14 days (statutory right of withdrawal)
2. Kaufland generates a return label (DHL/Hermes/DPD) for the buyer
3. The buyer sends the goods to the merchant's stored returns address
4. The merchant inspects within 14 days and triggers the refund via the Refunds API
5. Kaufland refunds the buyer and offsets the amount against the next payout

The Zunapro returns module tracks every case, automatically generates the correction invoice (cancellation XRechnung) and updates stock levels.

Zunapro Kaufland integration — Setup in 4 steps (10 minutes)

1. Enter Kaufland credentials — In the Zunapro panel under "Marketplace → Kaufland.de", enter the Seller ID, Client-Key and Secret-Key from the Kaufland Sellerportal.
2. Connect your existing shop — Shopify, WooCommerce, Shopware 6, JTL, Plentymarkets, Magento and PrestaShop are pre-configured. Enter API URL and access key — done.
3. Category mapping wizard — Drag-and-drop your shop categories onto the Kaufland category tree. AI suggestions handle 80% automatically.
4. First sync — Listings, stock, prices, orders and shipping data sync automatically. Within 10 minutes your Kaufland shop is fully manageable from the Zunapro panel.

Frequently asked questions about the real.de → Kaufland.de migration (FAQ)