At the Russian Retail Show forum held on April 21–23, Johannes Tholey, CEO of Metro Russia, announced a significant transformation of the German retailer's business model. The company has decided to substantially reduce its non-food assortment to concentrate on providing a relevant value proposition for professional clients.

According to the approved plan, the number of SKUs in the non-food sector will be reduced from the current 11,000 to 7,000 in the medium term, and eventually to 4,500–5,000 items in the long term. This measure is driven by the revenue structure: by the end of 2025, food products accounted for 90% of the chain's turnover, while non-food items contributed only 10%.

This shift in priorities is dictated by several factors:

• Focus on HoReCa: The primary strategic emphasis is moving toward professional clients—restaurants, cafes, and hotels—for whom the relevance of the assortment to specific business tasks is far more critical than its overall breadth.
• Competition with Marketplaces: Consumer demand for non-food products is massively shifting toward online platforms.
• Declining Purchasing Power: Retailers are observing a drop in consumer demand specifically within the non-food segment.

Despite the assortment optimization, Metro continues to invest in the Russian market. In 2025, total investments reached €43 million (+13.2% year-on-year), which were directed toward business support and the development of IT infrastructure.

Retailchina.pro Commentary: Metro’s decision is a logical move toward the classic Cash & Carry model, where shelf efficiency is determined by the turnover speed of the professional assortment. For Chinese suppliers, this is a vital signal: the "window of opportunity" in the non-food segment for hypermarkets is rapidly closing, as retailers no longer wish to compete with marketplaces for warehouse space. However, new prospects are emerging for manufacturers of food products and ingredients for the HoReCa segment. Metro is becoming a key distribution channel specifically for B2B solutions, and success here will depend on a supplier's ability to offer not just a product, but "professional expertise" and supply stability.