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Kaufland.nl has launched: what it means for sellers
Daniel Pawłowski · Amazonway · · approx. 7 min read
Kaufland.nl went live on 8 September 2026. It is the eighth country marketplace in the Kaufland Global Marketplace network, and Kaufland's own launch communication says the quiet part out loud: this is aimed squarely at sellers who are already on Kaufland.de. Gerald Schönbucher, CEO of Kaufland e-commerce, calls the platform “a strong European response to the global e-commerce giants" and frames the Dutch market as an opportunity German sellers can connect to quickly.
If Kaufland.de is already your home marketplace, that framing is fair: this is a channel extension on an account you run, not a new marketplace to learn. If it is not, the calculation is different, and the honest starting point is that on day one nobody can tell you whether this channel sells, Kaufland included.
Sources checked: 8 September 2026. Some figures come from the announcement Kaufland sent to agency-programme partners on 8 September, of which we are a recipient. The rest we verified in independent trade publications. We keep the two apart in the text, because they are not the same thing.
If you already sell anywhere in the Kaufland network, switch the Dutch market on and test it: what you risk is configuration, not budget. If you do not, do not make Kaufland your way into the Netherlands, because on launch day nobody knows whether this channel generates traffic. The rest of this article is the reasoning behind those two sentences, plus the things to check along the way.
Key takeaways
- Kaufland.nl is the network's eighth market. Spain is set to be the ninth.
- Around 3,000 sellers at launch, with more than 9 million offers across over 6,400 categories, according to Kaufland.
- The 18 million figure is the population of the Netherlands, not a customer count. The same applies to 185 and 220 million: those describe a theoretically addressable market, not reach.
- The 30-minute onboarding is Kaufland's own claim and covers channel configuration, not the tax and product compliance that stays with you.
- Automatic translation is part of onboarding, but the responsibility stays with you. Kaufland requires Dutch product data, customer communication and legal texts.
- Kaufland has no fulfilment service of its own. It closed Fulfilment by Kaufland on 28 February 2025, so on every market in the network you ship from your own warehouse or from a third-party provider.
- There is no independent traffic data on launch day. That is not a criticism of Kaufland; it is the state of every new marketplace.
What actually launched
| Parameter | Value | Whose figure |
|---|---|---|
| Launch date | 8 September 2026 | Kaufland, independently confirmed |
| Position in the network | Eighth market; Spain to be the ninth | Trade press |
| Sellers at launch | Around 3,000 | Kaufland |
| Offers | More than 9 million | Kaufland |
| Categories | More than 6,400 | Kaufland |
| Stated reach | 8 countries, 185 million online shoppers | Kaufland, partner announcement |
The numbers worth reading carefully
None of this is a criticism of Kaufland. Every launch announcement looks like this, and that is exactly why it is worth unpacking before anyone commits stock on the strength of it.
18 million is the population, not the customer base
The line about more than 18 million Dutch people having access to 9 million products describes the population of the Netherlands, not the number of Kaufland.nl users. Everyone with an internet connection has access to every online shop. It is a sentence about availability, not about reach.
185 and 220 million describe a theoretically addressable market
The 185 million figure comes from the partner announcement and refers to eight countries. Once Spain launches, the network is described as reaching 220 million. Worth noting that these figures do not add up: another source gives 139 million for the network before the expansion, and adding the Netherlands does not produce 185 million. The measurement bases differ. The German trade outlet that covered the launch says plainly that this is a „theoretisch adressierbarer Markt, nicht die tatsächliche Reichweite der Plattform": a theoretically addressable market, not the platform's actual reach.
There is no independent traffic data
As an aside: Kaufland itself says “more than 9 million" offers in one place and “more than 8.5 million" in a management quote. It makes no difference to a decision, but it shows how precise launch figures are.
What matters more is that on launch day there are no verified figures for visits, revenue or active customers on Kaufland.nl. There cannot be: the platform has been running for hours. Which means one thing: any sales forecast for this channel today rests on assumptions, not on data.
A third Dutch channel, and how it differs
A week ago we set out the choice between amazon.nl and bol.com and concluded that for most sellers there was not much of a choice: Amazon effectively requires a Dutch offer under Pan-EU, while bol.com asks for 500,000 euro of sales potential and admits sellers by invitation only. Today there is a third column.
| Element |  amazon.nl |  bol.com |  Kaufland.nl |
|---|---|---|---|
| Availability | Open, and effectively required under Pan-EU | Closed: invitation plus five conditions | Open, no turnover threshold |
| Listing language | Dutch, with automatic translation available | Dutch | Dutch, translated automatically when the market is opened |
| Customer service | No local-language requirement for cross-border selling | Dutch required, as a condition of entry | Dutch required |
| Fixed cost | Professional plan, 39 euro per month | None | Kaufland subscription, shared across the network |
| Logistics | FBA or your own shipping | Logistiek via bol or your own shipping | Your own shipping or a third-party provider only |
| Traffic history | Years | Years | None, it launched today |
Amazonway's read, not a quote from any platform: Kaufland.nl is today the easiest way into the Dutch market and simultaneously the only one where nobody knows whether it sells. Amazon and bol.com have the opposite profile: harder to enter, but you know what you are entering for. That is not an argument against any of them; it is a description of the trade-off you are choosing.
Kaufland's cost model, a monthly subscription plus a category-dependent commission, is set out in our guide to selling on Kaufland. The Dutch launch does not change it: the subscription covers the network, so another country does not mean another subscription.
Who this makes sense for today, and who should wait
Today, if you already sell on Kaufland.de. You have the account, the catalogue, the integration and the shipping settings. The new market extends what already works and the entry cost is mostly time. On that footing even uncertain reach is worth testing, because what you risk is configuration, not budget.
Today, if you wanted the Dutch market and bounced off bol.com. You will not clear a 500,000 euro threshold overnight, and Kaufland.nl has no threshold at all. That is a genuine alternative for a company not yet at that scale.
In six months, if entering would mean holding stock in the Netherlands. Kaufland has no fulfilment service of its own, so short delivery times on this market mean a logistics provider and inventory sitting locally. That is a real fixed cost and not one to take on before the first conversion data. The good news is that you do not have to: you list from the warehouse you already have, and decide about local stock later, on numbers.
Not now, if your obligations on your current markets are not closed. Another channel does not fix a backlog; it multiplies it.
The 30-minute onboarding: what it covers and what it does not
Kaufland describes entering a new market as “largely automated" and taking about 30 minutes, in five steps: adding tax information, having legal texts automatically translated and implemented, mirroring shipping settings to the new channel, selecting a return address, and having offers automatically translated and listed.
That is Kaufland's claim and it concerns configuring the channel in the panel. Three things those thirty minutes do not settle:
- Tax obligations. Step one is entering the details, not obtaining them. Distance selling to Dutch consumers from stock held elsewhere in the EU runs through the One Stop Shop; storing goods in the Netherlands is a different situation with different registration duties. We set the distinction out under VAT, OSS and EPR.
- Packaging and product obligations. Entering another EU market usually triggers further registrations. What that looks like in practice, on the German and French examples, is in our piece on EPR registration by country.
- Whether auto-translated legal texts are compliant. The machine translates, but you remain responsible for what the Dutch consumer sees: withdrawal rights, deadlines, warranty information. Worth reading before the first sale rather than after the first complaint.
The return address in step four deserves a moment too. A return from the Netherlands to a warehouse in another country costs more and closes more slowly than a local one, and at a higher return rate it becomes a line of its own in the accounts. How to calculate that is in our piece on returns processing fees: the fee mechanics there are Amazon's, but the way you measure your own return rate carries across to any channel.
What to measure in the first weeks
- Offer impressions, not sales. Sales will be low at launch regardless of how good your listings are. The question is whether the channel generates traffic at all.
- The quality of the automatic translation on a few listings. The product name and the first bullet decide the click, and a machine does not know your industry's terminology.
- Competition in your category. With 3,000 sellers across 6,400 categories, some categories are effectively empty. An empty category is either an opening or a sign that there is no demand there; both are worth checking.
- Return rate and the cost of handling it. The Dutch buyer expects something different from the German one, and you settle that from your own warehouse.
- Actual delivery time. The stated lead time is a promise to the customer, not a forecast; verify it on the first orders.
How Amazonway handles it
We treat a new market as a test with a set budget and a deadline, not as expansion. Concretely: list from existing stock, check the translations on the listings that actually get traffic, and set up measurement so that after four weeks the answer is yes or no based on numbers rather than on impressions.
We run Kaufland as an operational channel: account, listings, integrations and logistics. That is described on our Kaufland page, and entering a new market as a process under international expansion. If you would rather understand the platform yourself first, there is also a Kaufland training.
FAQ: Kaufland.nl
When did Kaufland.nl launch?
On 8 September 2026. It is the eighth market in the Kaufland Global Marketplace network, with Spain set to be the ninth.
How many sellers and offers were there at launch?
Kaufland gives around 3,000 sellers, more than 9 million offers and over 6,400 categories. Those are the platform's own figures and cannot be verified independently on launch day.
Do I need a new seller account?
Not if you already sell within the Kaufland network. The new market is switched on from your existing account, and Kaufland describes the process as largely automated and taking about 30 minutes. That claim covers channel configuration, not tax or product obligations.
Do listings have to be in Dutch?
Kaufland handles the translation of offers as one of the steps in opening the market. It is still worth checking the result on the listings that matter most to you, because a machine does not know your industry's terminology.
Is Kaufland.nl better than amazon.nl or bol.com?
On launch day there is no responsible way to compare them, because Kaufland.nl has no traffic history yet. The difference that can be named today is about entry: Kaufland sets no turnover threshold and requires no invitation, unlike bol.com, and it is not imposed by a programme requirement, unlike amazon.nl under Pan-EU.
Does listing on Kaufland.nl mean registering for Dutch VAT?
Listing alone does not. Registration duties attach primarily to where you store goods, while distance selling to consumers in the EU runs through the One Stop Shop. Settle the details for your situation with your accountant.
What does selling on Kaufland.nl cost?
The cost model is shared across the network: a monthly subscription plus a category-dependent sales commission. Another market does not mean another subscription. Confirm current rates in the seller portal, as they are updated from time to time.
Sources
- Kaufland Global Marketplace, announcement to agency-programme partners, 8 September 2026 (material received by Amazonway)
- onlinemarktplatz.de, Kaufland Niederlande startet mit 3.000 Händlern
- EcommerceNews.eu, Kaufland to launch in Spain and the Netherlands
Find out whether Kaufland.nl fits your range
We will go through your catalogue against the new market: which categories sit empty there today, what can be listed from existing stock without new logistics, and which obligations come with selling into the Netherlands. We will also say plainly if we think you are better off waiting for the first traffic data.