Local products with Loql

With our food start-up “Loql”, we use an innovative platform that connects regional producers and food retailers. Under the mission statement “Local food on every plate”, Loql promotes cooperation between regional suppliers such as local manufacturers and farmers and B2B buyers.we have gathered initial experience from our markets.

The evaluation of the first internal pilot phase has been very positive, both among local producers and customers. The programme is now being rolled out step by step in many other regions. Interested REWE retailers, farmers and other local producers and manufacturers can already register for free on the Loql registration page.

How Loql works

The platform offers straightforward order processing, simple communication and fast networking options via app and web portal. Many different user groups, from farmers to winegrowers, bakers, beekeepers and butchers, are already using Loql. The app allows them to communicate directly with REWE stores, process their orders efficiently and take advantage of digital marketing opportunities. Suppliers have the opportunity to present their local products via Loql and update their product range – easily via the app or the web. The integrated search function also makes it possible to find nearby REWE stores and establish contact with them. In turn, Loql serves as a shopping assistant for REWE retailers, allowing them to add the desired products to their shopping cart and easily order them from producers, as well as find new producers themselves.

Loql is not only an efficient and uncomplicated tool for sourcing local products. The start-up also creates more transparency regarding the origin of products – and underpins the company’s regionality strategy.

Successful start shows: Locality in the focus of customers

The latest “Shopping Trend Report 2024” by Bing! and Statista shows that quality, regionality and seasonality continue to be the most important criteria for German consumers when shopping for food. This is where Loql comes in and successfully demonstrates how easy regionality and thus the protection of nature and the environment can be: The original idea of strengthening regional structures has also been confirmed in practice. The average distance between producers and customers for orders placed via the platform is 20.3 kilometers, explains Clemens Tsalikis, Chief Operating Officer of Loql. Around two thirds of all orders were also placed directly with farmers. The start-up is thus making an important contribution to expanding the networks of many food producers and paving the way for more regionality on our plates. And in a particularly wide variety: fruit, vegetables and eggs are particularly popular with farmers. But wineries, butchers, distilleries and beekeepers are also represented at Loql and impress with a diverse range of products.

With local roots, REWE retailers throughout Germany maintain long-standing partnerships with local businesses, in some cases for more than 20 years. Loql reinforces this approach and proves that producers can supply REWE from just one store. In this way, REWE Group strengthens regional structures – as a reliable partner to German farmers.