In a nutshell
Handyhuellen.de rolled out its existing Kaufland Germany setup with ChannelEngine across all seven Kaufland regions. Around 20,000 SKUs were scaled internationally; individual markets could be technically activated in just two hours. Within the first year, the new countries already generated around 50% of Germany’s sales volume. Particularly striking: Italy became the second-strongest market after Germany, even though Kaufland has only been active there with its marketplace since September 2025.
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From a German setup to European expansion
Handyhuellen.de has been active on Kaufland Germany since 2019. For the smartphone accessories specialist, the marketplace had long ceased to be a test channel and had become a solid foundation for further growth. When Kaufland expanded its marketplace presence across Europe, Handyhuellen.de faced an obvious question: How quickly could the existing German setup be transferred to additional countries?
The basis was already in place: Handyhuellen.de had been working with the integrator ChannelEngine for some time. Product data, mapping, pricing logic, stock, and content were already connected. That became the lever for the rollout into the six additional Kaufland regions Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, France, and Italy.
“We were able to simply reuse our existing setup and quickly activate new markets without adding operational complexity or additional resources. That made scaling across several regions much easier than we had expected.” – Krijn Twigt, Business Development Manager at handyhuellen.de
The challenge: Internationalising without operational fragmentation
Cross-border marketplace expansion quickly creates complexity: localised content, translations, consistent pricing and stock, VAT questions, regulatory requirements, and logistics processes all have to work across several countries.
For Handyhuellen.de, it was therefore crucial not to treat expansion as a series of separate country projects. This is where ChannelEngine and Kaufland Global Marketplace complemented each other:
- ChannelEngine provided single mapping, automation, and central management of pricing, stock, and content processes.
- Kaufland provided the country marketplaces, regional reach, and translation support.
- One particular feature of the Kaufland setup also helped: sellers can manage all seven country marketplaces through one account.
- Logistics and compliance remained lean: centralised fulfilment from the Dutch warehouse and a single VAT setup via EU OSS.
The key lever was single mapping. Because the products for Germany were already mapped in ChannelEngine, they could be used as the basis for the additional Kaufland markets. Kaufland handled the translations for the individual regions, while ChannelEngine enabled targeted adjustments, for example for images containing localised text.
This meant Handyhuellen.de did not have to rebuild listings market by market, while still being able to adapt its brand presentation.
“Handyhuellen.de is an excellent example of how sellers can unlock the full potential of cross-border expansion through Kaufland Global Marketplace. By combining Kaufland’s customer reach with ChannelEngine’s automation and centralised management, sellers can expand quickly into new markets while maintaining efficiency and control across regions. This setup gives sellers a scalable and agile way to accelerate their European growth.” – Matthias Kluth, Teamlead Sales DACH at Kaufland Global Marketplace
Two hours per market: When expansion becomes a process
Building on this foundation, Handyhuellen.de was able to activate new Kaufland regions very quickly. In individual markets, the technical setup took only around two hours. This allowed around 20,000 SKUs to be rolled out across several international markets without rebuilding the operational logic each time.
“ChannelEngine gave us one central control point for all Kaufland regions. We maintained full oversight of pricing, stock, and content while expanding across Europe. Centralised logistics and a single VAT setup also removed much of the typical friction of cross-border expansion. That allowed us to focus on scaling performance with control and efficiency.” – Krijn Twigt, Business Development Manager at handyhuellen.de
Italy shows the momentum of new markets
The expansion quickly developed positively for Handyhuellen.de – and, according to the company, was in line with the forecasts provided by Kaufland’s account manager.
“Within the first year, the new Kaufland markets generated around 50% of Germany’s sales volume. That confirmed that our expansion model works. With ChannelEngine, scaling across regions is no longer a complex project. It becomes a structured and repeatable process.” – Krijn Twigt, Business Development Manager at handyhuellen.de
Italy turned out to be a particular highlight: together with France, it was the most recent market to be added and has already become the strongest Kaufland market after Germany – even though Kaufland has only been active with its marketplace in Italy since September 2025.
For Handyhuellen.de, these data points are now more than just sales signals. Performance across the individual regions feeds into the broader e-commerce roadmap and helps assess where further investment may make sense, including potential future webshop launches.
Conclusion: Scaling starts before the next market
The Handyhuellen.de case shows that European marketplace expansion becomes most efficient when existing structures can grow with the business. ChannelEngine played the central role as the integration and automation layer. Kaufland complemented this operational basis with country marketplaces, translation support, and regional demand.
This turned a successful German setup into a scalable European model – not without operational work, but without having to rebuild each country from scratch.
Key Learnings
- Marketplace data is becoming strategic. It not only reveals sales potential, but also helps guide further e-commerce investment.
- The numbers show how strongly the setup scaled: Handyhuellen.de rolled out around 20,000 SKUs across all seven Kaufland regions; individual markets could be technically activated in around two hours, and the new countries generated around 50% of Germany’s sales volume within the first year.
- Single mapping accelerates internationalisation. Once product data is cleanly set up, new markets can be activated much faster.
- Marketplace reach needs operational scalability. Growth only becomes efficient when content, pricing, stock, VAT, and logistics work together.
- Young markets can become relevant quickly. Italy has already become Handyhuellen.de’s second-strongest Kaufland market after Germany.