Saturn under pressure: The creeping farewell to tried and tested branches

Saturn under pressure: The creeping farewell to tried and tested branches

The savings banks in Germany have had an unfortunate fate in recent years: Around 70 locations of the traditional brand Saturn were still left in July 2025 - a huge decline compared to the more than twice as many branches a few years ago. The closure of the Saturn location in Fürth in spring 2023 is only an example of the entire development. So reports Gameswirtschaft that Saturn branches are increasingly converted into mediaMarkt branches. On July 3, 2025, the latest conversion in the Limbecker shopping center in Essen.

This turnaround is not only due to the closures in Fürth and other cities such as Cologne-Weiden, Karlsruhe-Durlach or Erfurt. The parent company Ceconomy has also adapted the strategy in the past two years and has more and more branches reopen in the media market design. The list of affected locations is long and includes cities across Germany, including Stuttgart, Nuremberg, and Wuppertal. In particular in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria, numerous branches were closed.

The change of the brand

A look at the future shows that ceconomy is faced with enormous challenges. The Saturn brand suffers a loss of meaning, and new openings are now increasingly relying on the media market name. According to Merkur , the economist Gerrit Heinemann even indicated that Ceconomy " fights ". The company is planning a comprehensive restructuring that includes branch closures and savings in marketing and logistics.

As early as the first quarter of 2023, the first positive effects from this restructuring were visible, and four Saturn houses were reopened under the media market label. The figures from market analyzes clearly show that the market opportunities are clearer in favor of MediaMarkt. By 2025/26, Ceconomy plans to redesign over 90 percent of all markets, primarily under the well -known brand.

strategic realignment

The vision of Ceconomy goes beyond the pure branch business. As announced at the Capital Markets Day in Cologne, a customer -centered service platform is working that includes five central building blocks. These range from omnichannel excellence to services to the expansion of the retail media business. The online share of total sales is also to be increased to 30 percent by 2025/26. The article provides further details on MediaMarksaturn .

More than 30 percent of inpatient markets have already been modernized, and sustainability also plays a central role in the corporate strategy. The goal of reaching "Net-Zero" for SCOPE 1 and 2 emissions by 2024 shows that Ceconomy not only attaches importance to economic, but also on ecological sustainability.

This makes it clear that developments around Saturn and MediaMarkt not only have an impact on the branches, but also on the entire industry. The questions are great: Will the change to the media market bring sufficient stability, or will we see further closures and conversions in the coming years? The answers to this remain to wait, but one thing is clear: there is still something going on!