ShipWave Channels

Connecting Kaufland Global Marketplace

Sell on 14 European storefronts (DE, AT, SK, CZ, PL, HR, RO, BG, EE, HU, LV, LT, SI, MK) from one ShipWave account.

About Kaufland Global Marketplace

Kaufland Global Marketplace is the unified marketplace platform from Schwarz Group, covering 14 storefronts across Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe: Germany (DE), Austria (AT), Slovakia (SK), Czech Republic (CZ), Poland (PL), Croatia (HR), Romania (RO), Bulgaria (BG), Estonia (EE), Hungary (HU), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Slovenia (SI), and North Macedonia (MK). It is the fastest path to reaching multiple smaller EU markets from a single seller onboarding.

Before you start

You need:
  • An approved Kaufland Global Marketplace seller unit at sellerportal.kaufland.com — approval typically takes 2-4 weeks
  • API credentials: Client Key and Secret Key, generated under Settings → API access
  • VAT registration for each country you sell into (or OSS registration covering EU intra-community sales)
  • The list of storefronts your unit is approved for — some units are restricted to a subset of the 14 countries

One channel per (unit + storefront)

Kaufland organises sellers as units (your business entity), and each unit can sell into one or more storefronts (country markets). ShipWave models this as one channel per (unit + storefront) combo — e.g. a single unit selling in DE, AT, and PL gets three ShipWave channels. This keeps order routing, currency, and language handling clean per storefront.

Connecting your account

  1. Go to Admin → Marketplace → Channels and click New Channel.
  2. Select Kaufland as the platform.
  3. Choose the storefront (DE, AT, SK, CZ, PL, HR, RO, BG, EE, HU, LV, LT, SI, or MK).
  4. Pick the Shopify store to use as the product source.
  5. Name the channel (e.g. “Kaufland DE”, “Kaufland CZ”).
  6. Click Create Channel.
  7. Paste your Client Key and Secret Key.
  8. Click Save Credentials. ShipWave validates by calling /units and confirming the storefront is included in your unit’s permissions.
Repeat for each additional storefront.

HMAC request signing

Kaufland authenticates every request with HMAC-SHA256 signing — each call is signed with your Secret Key, a request timestamp, and a content hash. ShipWave handles signing internally — you never see HMAC headers. The benefit: there is no token expiration, so once credentials are saved the channel stays connected indefinitely (until you rotate keys in the seller portal).

How orders flow in

Kaufland does not push webhooks for orders — ShipWave polls /orders every 10 minutes for new orders in open state. ShipWave acknowledges, fetches details, and imports each order. After shipping, ShipWave calls /orders/{id}/units to mark units shipped with carrier and tracking. Expected lag from buyer checkout to ShipWave dashboard: under 10 minutes.

Listings and inventory sync

Kaufland is EAN-required — every offer matches a catalog product by 13-digit EAN. ShipWave skips variants without one. New products are submitted through Kaufland’s editorial review (24-72 hours) when the EAN is not yet in their catalog. Price and stock updates use PATCH /units/{unitId}. Note: Kaufland separates the product (shared across all storefronts) from the unit (your storefront-specific offer with price, stock, and shipping group). For the broader listing workflow see Bulk listing operations.

Currency per storefront

Each Kaufland storefront uses its own currency:
  • EUR – DE, AT, SK, HR, EE, LV, LT, SI
  • CZK – Czech Republic
  • PLN – Poland
  • RON – Romania
  • BGN – Bulgaria
  • HUF – Hungary
  • MKD – North Macedonia
ShipWave converts your base price to the storefront’s currency automatically using your configured FX rates. Set a margin buffer in channel pricing rules to absorb FX swings — CZK and HUF in particular can move 3-5% in a month.

Common issues

“HMAC signature mismatch” – usually a clock skew issue. ShipWave servers sync via NTP, but if you see this error contact support — we may need to investigate clock drift.

“Storefront not in unit permissions” – your unit is not approved for the selected storefront. Request additional storefronts in the seller portal under Settings → Storefronts.

“Offer rejected: EAN not in catalog” – submit the product through the seller portal’s “New product” flow first. Once approved (24-72 hours), the offer push will succeed.

Pricing looks wrong in CZK/HUF/RON – check the FX rate configured for that currency. Update under Admin → Settings → Currency rates.

FAQs

Do I need separate VAT registration for each Kaufland country?
You need VAT coverage for each country you ship into — either local registrations or the EU One-Stop-Shop (OSS) scheme for intra-EU B2C sales. Kaufland verifies your VAT setup during seller approval.
Can I use the same product listings across multiple Kaufland storefronts?
Yes — the underlying product (EAN, attributes, images) is shared across all storefronts, but each storefront has its own unit with its own price, stock, and currency. ShipWave handles this automatically: push once per channel, the product half is deduplicated server-side.
What languages do Kaufland storefronts require?
Each storefront expects content in the local language. Kaufland accepts English fallback content for newly-launched storefronts, but localised listings convert significantly better. Use per-channel listing overrides to set the localised title and bullets.
Why is North Macedonia (MK) on the list?
Schwarz Group expanded Kaufland into North Macedonia in 2024. MK is small but uniquely accessible — very few western marketplaces operate there, so competition is light.
How do I know which storefronts my unit is approved for?
After creating a channel, ShipWave queries the /units endpoint and lists your approved storefronts on the channel detail page. You can also see this directly in the Kaufland seller portal under Settings → Storefronts.

More in ShipWave Channels