EK/servicegroup eG

EK/servicegroup eG, which trades under the brand name EK Retail, is a German purchasing cooperative (Einkaufsgemeinschaft) headquartered in Bielefeld. It is one of the largest retail cooperations in Europe, organised as a registered cooperative (eingetragene Genossenschaft). Its core purpose is to negotiate favourable purchasing conditions for independent, owner-managed retailers, provide professional marketing support, and connect retail, industry and service providers through a strong network. The group describes itself as a service organisation for independent retail, composed of a group of business divisions that share one common goal: providing services to independent retailers in various European countries. According to its own figures, EK/servicegroup serves around 4,000 retail partners across Europe and employs roughly 450 people. It focuses on guiding small and medium-sized, owner-managed retail businesses into the digital future. EK Retail operates a multi-sector association (Mehrbranchen-Verbundgruppe) supporting a diverse product range through eight strategic business areas. These include EK Books (books, e-books, e-book readers, office and stationery), EK DIY (tools and wood, building materials, paint, flooring and wallpaper), EK Fashion (women's, men's and children's fashion), EK France (cookware, tableware, kitchen accessories), EK Home (baby and toys, electrical appliances, household goods), EK Living (bedroom furniture, furniture, home textiles), EK Special Accounts (special accounts, InterES, WHB) and EK Sport (sports shoes, sportswear, sports goods and accessories). The cooperative's services include central purchasing, central settlement (Zentralregulierung) giving retailers access to the product worlds of around 6,000 brand manufacturers, wholesale with around 16,000 articles from its logistics partner, marketing, logistics, information technology, central billing, business consulting and training. EK also develops its own private labels such as St. Barth (textiles), my style (lifestyle products), my edition (electrical goods) and my choice (interior decoration), acts as a system provider with store concepts such as electroplus and küchenplus, and regularly organises in-house sample, order, trend and service trade fairs with industry partners. EK/servicegroup is organised as a cooperative and is not publicly listed. Its central settlement volume was reported at around 2 billion euros for 2025, with external turnover of about 4.3 billion euros and central turnover of about 2.2 billion euros as of 2024. The cooperative operates in around 10 European countries, partly through subsidiaries such as EK France, EK Austria and Euretco in the Netherlands. Its headquarters remain in Bielefeld, where it has been based since 1928.

EK/servicegroup traces its origins to 20 May 1925, when three hardware merchants founded the Einkaufsgemeinschaft Westfalen Lippe to obtain volume discounts on purchasing goods. The first chairman, Heinrich Tönnies, operated from his office in Lage. By 1928, with 30 merchants affiliated, a dedicated location was sought; Bielefeld was chosen as the new seat due to its transport links, and the Einkaufsverband Westfalen-Lippe e.G.m.b.H. was entered in the commercial register. In 1931 the name was shortened to EWELI Großeinkaufsverband e.G.m.b.H. In 1936 warehousing began and the range was expanded to include household goods, household electrical appliances, toys, gift articles and more. In 1968 EWELI merged with the Einkaufsgenossenschaft Keramik e.G.m.b.H. (Bremen) to form EWELI-KERAMIK. In 1972 this merged with the purchasing associations Rheinwest e.G.m.b.H. (Essen) and ROTE ERDE e.G.m.b.H. (Dortmund) to form EK Großeinkauf e.G.m.b.H. In 1994 a cooperation began between EK Großeinkauf and the E/D/E, with E/D/E transferring its gift articles and glass, porcelain and ceramics product groups to EK, allowing E/D/E customers to source these goods there. This was intensified in 1997 when EK transferred the majority of its DIY range to the E/D/E warehouse. These activities culminated on 1 January 1998 in the founding of ZEUS, into which both partners contributed their DIY divisions and in which each holds 50 percent. ZEUS is administered at the E/D/E headquarters in Wuppertal. Because 37 EK members did not wish to support this step, they jointly founded a new association under the name EMV Einkaufs- und Marketingverband in Detmold. This still means that the Baufuchs DIY stores initiated by EK are partly assigned to Zeus and partly to EMV. The first managing director of EMV was Peter Lang, who had previously been managing director of the EK subsidiary DIY Zentraleinkauf for 13 years. In the mid-1990s there was an attempt to merge with the larger NB Großeinkauf e.G., Essen (NB stands for Nürnberger Bund), which had run into difficulties partly due to a newly built automated warehouse unsuitable for its range. It instead joined the even larger Kaufring in 1998. In January 2002 the wholesale businesses of Kaufring were to be merged with those of EK Großeinkauf, but this was prevented by the banks of Kaufring, which had itself run into difficulties. In August 2005 the name was changed to EK/servicegroup. This was intended on the one hand to reflect the internationalisation of the company, which is active in almost all neighbouring countries ("Großeinkauf" is not understood there and is sometimes off-putting), and on the other hand to emphasise that EK offers more than just cheaper prices through joint purchasing. With the name change, the complete corporate design was changed, which had been characterised by the colour blue since 1972. As of 2024 the cooperation included over 4,000 independent, medium-sized retail companies (specialist shops, specialist markets as well as department stores) in 10 European countries, partly with their own subsidiaries such as EK France, EK Austria and Euretco in the Netherlands. EK generates external turnover of about 4.3 billion euros and central turnover of about 2.2 billion euros annually (as of 2024). The distribution volume in 2020 was 22 million euros, with an equity ratio of just under 20 percent of the balance sheet total. Key product ranges include household goods, gift articles, white goods, glass, porcelain, ceramics, toys, baby equipment, books, fashion, stationery as well as sports and furniture in the Netherlands. The seat of the company, organised as a cooperative, is Bielefeld. The chairman of the board is Martin Richrath, and the chairman of the supervisory board is Hannes Versloot. The company employs about 600 people, around 350 of them in Germany. Services offered include central purchasing, marketing, logistics, information technology, central settlement, business consulting and further training. The services offered under the umbrella of EK/servicegroup are divided into "Services for the business areas" (purchasing and services) and the "Central Functions" EK Handel, EK Finanzen and basic functions (personnel, balance sheets, controlling, IT, etc.). The company partly imports goods directly from the Far East, works closely with freight forwarding service providers in logistics (in addition to direct deliveries from major suppliers, since early 2005 the IDS logistics partner Gebr. Mönkemöller, Bielefeld), has developed its own private labels such as St. Barth (textiles), my style (lifestyle products), my edition (electrical goods) and my choice (interior decoration), also acts as a system provider (with system and business type concepts such as electroplus, küchenplus and others) and regularly organises in-house sample, order, trend and service trade fairs with industry partners. On 1 January 2007 EK entered into a cooperation with the leading Austrian textile trade cooperation Modering MEM GmbH & Co. KG, Graz (69 retail partners, turnover around 17 million euros). From 2007, through the acquisitions of IGEKA eG (Interessengemeinschaft der Kinderfachgeschäfte) and others, the group continued to expand its network.

• 2007

  Cooperation with Austrian Modering MEM GmbH & Co. KG begins on 1 January; acquisitions such as IGEKA eG follow.

• 2005

  Name changed to EK/servicegroup in August; corporate design updated.

• 1998

  ZEUS is founded on 1 January with both partners holding 50 percent.

• 1997

  EK transfers most of its DIY range to the E/D/E warehouse.

• 1994

  Cooperation with E/D/E begins; E/D/E transfers gift and glass/porcelain/ceramics groups to EK.

• 1972

  Merger with Rheinwest and ROTE ERDE to form EK Großeinkauf e.G.m.b.H.

• 1968

  EWELI merges with Einkaufsgenossenschaft Keramik to form EWELI-KERAMIK.

• 1936

  Warehousing begins; range expanded to household goods, electrical appliances, toys and gifts.

• 1931

  Name shortened to EWELI Großeinkaufsverband e.G.m.b.H.

• 1928

  Bielefeld becomes the seat; Einkaufsverband Westfalen-Lippe e.G.m.b.H. is entered in the commercial register.

• 1925

  Three hardware merchants found the Einkaufsgemeinschaft Westfalen Lippe on 20 May.

A full-service purchasing, marketing and competence network for independent, owner-managed retailers in Europe.

• St. Barth

• my style

• my edition

• my choice

• electroplus

• küchenplus

1. 1EK Retail official websiteek-retail.com
2. 2EK Holding – EK Retailek-retail.com
3. 3Über uns – EK Retailek-retail.com
4. 4Services – EK Retailek-retail.com
5. 5EK/servicegroup – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org
6. 6EK/servicegroup – Wikidatawikidata.org