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 Media Markt store in Herstal, Belgium | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1979 |
| Founder |
|
| Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 1,006 (October 2023) |
Area served | Germany, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal (until 1st October 2025, now Darty), Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey |
| Products | Consumer electronics |
| Revenue | €21.7 billion (2022)[1] |
| Parent | Ceconomy |
| Subsidiaries | MediaMart (Vietnam) MediaWorld (Italy) Darty (Portugal) |
| Website | www |
MediaMarkt is a German multinational chain of stores sellingconsumer electronics with over 1,000 retail locations in ten countries inEurope. With theSaturn chain of stores it constitutes Media-Saturn Holding, owned by the retail companyCeconomy, which was demerged fromMetro Group in 2017. In July 2025, Chinese e-commerce companyJD.com agreed to acquire parent company Ceconomy for €2.2 billion.[2]
MediaMarkt was founded by entrepreneurs Leopold Stiefel, Walter Gunz, Erich Kellerhals, Markus Fernandez and Helga Kellerhals. The first store opened on 24 November 1979 inMunich. By 1985, nine other stores had opened near Munich.
In 1988 Kaufhof Warenhaus AG acquired a 54 percent majority in the holding company of the media stores founded in 1979. In 1989 expansion began in neighboring countries. MediaMarkt took over the competing retail chain Saturn in 1990, in whichKaufhof was already involved. In 1996 Kaufhof Holding,Metro Cash & Carry, Deutsche SB-Kauf AG and the German department store Asko AG (where a Metro holding company had previously each held shares) merged and formed Metro AG. Since the merger into the MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group, MediaMarkt and Saturn have been managed as independent brands in a centrally controlled group.
On November 17, 2010, the first MediaMarkt store inChina was opened onHuaihai Road, inShanghai. Six more stores followed, which were realized together withFoxconn through a joint venture. In January 2013, it became known that MediaMarkt would withdraw from China because the Metro Group would not be able to raise the capital necessary for its further expansion.[3][4]
In January 2013, Metro had around 78% of the shares. The Kellerhals family owned 21.67% of Markus fernandez through their indirectly held holding company Convergenta Invest.[5]
Since 2017 Media-Saturn Holding which consists of MediaMarkt andSaturn chains is owned byCeconomy, a company formed through a demerger fromMetro Group.[6]
In July 2017 Ceconomy bought a 24% stake in French multinationalFnac Darty.[7]
In 2018 Ceconomy sold the 46 stores inRussia toM.video in exchange for 15% in the Russian retailer.[8]
In 2023, MediaMarkt exited from three countries by selling its stores to competitors. In Portugal, it sold its 10 stores to the French groupFnac Darty, after which the chain is scheduled to be rebranded asDarty on 1 October 2025.[9] In Sweden, it sold 29 stores to Power International.[10] In Greece, the remaining 25% stake in its 13 stores was sold to Public Group,[11] which had already acquired 75% of the shares in 2019.[12]
In July 2025, Chinese companyJD.com launched a €2.2 billion cash offer to acquire Ceconomy, MediaMarkt’s parent company.[13]
In 2012, the company launched its online shop, starting with Germany in January.
In Italy, the MediaWorld brand is used instead of MediaMarkt.
Every store is 10% owned by the store manager. Store managers have discretion as to which products to stock, range, pricing, personnel and material costs.
| Country | Stores[14] |
|---|---|
| Germany | 396[15](includes 125 Saturn stores)[16] |
| Italy | 139(as MediaWorld)[17] |
| Spain | 112[18] |
| Turkey | 94[19] |
| Poland | 85[20] |
| Austria | 56[21] |
| Netherlands | 54[22] |
| Switzerland | 45[23] |
| Hungary | 40[24] |
| Belgium | 26[25] |
| Luxembourg | 2[26] |
| Country | Stores | Closed Year | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greece | 13 | 2023 | Sold to Public Group |
| Portugal | 10 | 2023 | Sold toFnac Darty, then rebranded toDarty in 2025 |
| Russia | 46 | 2018 | Sold to M.Video |
| Sweden | 29 | 2023 | Sold to Power Sverige AB[27] |
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MediaMarkt had an aggressive advertising similar to American companies and also a few controversial commercials in the 2000s. It is known inGermany for its humorous, but sometimes crude,advertising campaigns; for example, the slogan "Lasst euch nicht verarschen" meaning "Don't let yourself be conned", literally verbal prefixfor- (ver-) + ass (Arsch) + infinitive suffix-en (-en).
The advertising campaigns of the brands MediaMarkt and Saturn are designed by the internal marketing organization redblue Marketing GmbH in Munich.
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MediaMarkt's main slogan "Ich bin doch nicht blöd" (I'm not stupid) has been translated into the languages of the other countries where the company operates, except Italian:
| Language | Slogan |
|---|---|
| German | Ich bin doch nicht blöd? (I'm not stupid right?) |
| Spanish | ¡Yo no soy tonto! (I am not a fool!) |
| Dutch | Ik ben toch niet gek? (I'm not crazy right?) |
| French | Je ne suis pas fou. (I'm not crazy) |
| Galician | Eu non son parvo! (I am not a fool!) |
| Greek | Δεν είμαι και χτεσινός! (I was not born yesterday!) |
| Hungarian | Mert hülye azért nem vagyok! (Because I'm not stupid) |
| Italian | Fatto apposta per me! (Just made for me), in Italy Non sono mica scemo! (I am not stupid!), in Italian-speaking Switzerland |
| Polish | Nie dla idiotów. (Not for idiots), later: Tu wszystko działa dla ciebie. (Everything works for you here.) |
| Portuguese | Eu é que não sou parvo! (It's not me who's a fool!) |
| Swedish | Allt annat känns puckat! (Everything else seems stupid!) |
| Catalan | Jo no sóc tonto! (I am not stupid) |
| Basque | Ni ez naiz inozoa! (I am not stupid) |
| Turkish | Bakmadan almam. (I don't buy without seeing it.) |
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Prior to the2006 World Cup, MediaMarkt launched a campaign, claiming to be the "best fan supplier" ("Bester Fanausrüster"), with commercials showing international football fans shopping at MediaMarkt, showing exaggerated stereotypes of the participating countries, and making fun of theAustria team, which did not qualify. This included a French seductress, Dutch fans smokingmarijuana in caravans, or a Saudi haggling - to pay more. German fans were portrayed with big bellies, asking for refrigerators to keep their beer cool, rather than looking for a new TV set.
An additional series of ads, promoting a rebate of €10 for each goal Germany scores (exceptpenalty shoot-outs), showed international soccer fans begging the Germans to score as many goals as possible - against their own team.
When the Netherlands lost to Portugal, MediaMarkt used a quote from a 1980s show featuringRudi Carrell, a Dutchman who was a long-time TV celebrity in Germany, to expressSchadenfreude. AWorld Cup trophy is shown to grieving Dutch fans in their caravan with the comment "This would have been your prize!".
In March 2006, the "Poland version" showed moustache-wearing Polish customers praising the shop for "prices deep like Polish soul" before hugging the German sales managers, who looked quite uncomfortable in the bear hugs. Afterwards, one of the Germans pointed out that his watch was still there, and that "The Pole is an honest person, after all". Then, the three men are shown to be missing their trousers.[28]
This commercial caused a scandal in Poland, for the widely known unfounded German stereotype of Poles being thieves. MediaMarkt argued that the advertisements also made fun of other national clichés, including Germans, and none of the other clichés were perceived as negative towards the people they presented. It aimed to exaggerate the cliché of the Polish thief to dismiss it as unjustified prejudice, MediaMarkt claimed.[29]
The store apologised and withdrew the advert after their Polish branch asked to do so, following protests in Poland, a call from the Polish embassy in Berlin and protests from GermanPolonia.
In January 2008, coinciding with the opening of its 500th overall store in Europe (located inAlfragide), MediaMarkt launched a campaign presenting a fictitious country calledParvónia ("Dumb Land"), where several characters withEastern European accents were presented as being from this country, which even has an anthem. A central theme of this campaign presented aBoy Scout as an idiot. This really upset people as many consider Scouts to be responsible and valued members of society. An online petition was created to persuade MediaMarkt to withdraw the campaign and to offer a public apology.[30] Due to this petition and a lot of pressure from the Scouting movement, on February 7, MediaMarkt had to remove the Boy Scout from their campaign, including TV and radio ads, while also suspending the Parvónia campaign from television.[31]
Turkish Union Association inEskişehir,Turkey motivated suspension of an advertisement campaign by the group on grounds that MediaMarkt "insulted Turkishness" by depicting consumers that purchased overpriced merchandise with animal heads. A ban of the advertisements lasted for three months in 2009.[32] There have been many accusations on their official Facebook fan page about their false product advertisements in Turkey.
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A former German campaign played on the German expression "saubillig" which means extremely cheap, but literally "sow (female pig) cheap".Sau- is a common emphasising prefix in colloquial German. Inside the stores, the entrances were signposted as "Schweingang" = wordplay on the word Eingang (Entrance) and Schwein (pig), and the exit as "Sausgang" = wordplay on the word Ausgang (Exit) and the German word for sow (Sau) - the female pig.
MediaMarkt promised in 2005 a promotion to sell items "withoutVAT" (with a discount equal to VAT). The prices for these items had previously been increased in order to actually achieve the normal price. A competitor sued a branch in Mannheim.[33]
The MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group has madebait-and-switch in the past: articles were advertised extensively at extremely low prices but were sold out within a very short time. According to case law on the law against unfair competition (UWG) advertised special offers must be available for at least two days. Consumer advocates criticized that this was often not guaranteed at MediaMarkt and Saturn. The group denied that; there were only a few exceptions despite large stocks. It is generally difficult to provide concrete evidence of such cases, sinceconsumer protection groups do not have access to the delivery dates of the companies.[34]
In 2005, samples from theFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in the Munich area showed that MediaMarkt or Saturn stores were more expensive in 15 out of 21 cases than local competitors. In Berlin they were 11 out of 21 cases. The MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group countered the allegations with a "price guarantee" that promised buyers a refund of the price difference if they found the product at a lower price in another shop.[35]
In 2013, 0% financing from the Spanish bankBanco Santander was criticized. A credit loss insurance that costs 10% is taken out only on a note in the small print.[36]
According to research published by theFinancial Times Germany in 2008, the MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group committed toIntel in 1999 to only sell PCs with Intel processors. The holding company received 85 million euros in purchase discounts and advertising grants from Intel in 2007 alone. The European antitrust authorities investigated the distortion of competition. Intel was fined 1.06 billion euros in May 2009 by the European Union's competition authority for these and other antitrust violations.[37]
The retail chain was moved by Intel's discount system to have only insignificant or no computers withAMD processors on offer. According to theEuropean Commission, Intel has made direct and indirect payments to MSH since 1997. The payments were subject to the condition that, if possible, only offer Intel systems.
In 2014, inKrems an der Donau inLower Austria, theft of the MediaMarkt, which is said to have been committed by employees, not only carried out bag checks, as is common in many companies but also body searches on all employees. The unions see this as a violation ofhuman dignity.[38] As a consequence, employees of other branches in Austria reported this procedure. This approach was blamed on the security service providers by the company.[39]
On June 13, 2014, the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (BWB) announced a decision by the cartel court on April 23, 2014, against Media-Saturn Beteiligungs gmbH. A fine of 1,230,000 euros was imposed for vertical price matching ofretail prices with theelectronics industry between October 2009 and early 2013.[40]
The US Best Buy Group is the global market leader by sales in the consumer electronics sector. As of May 2016, MediaMarktSaturn and Best Buy have so far only competed with each other in Turkey. TheEuronics retail group is the second largest competitor in Europe.
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