The Financial Times reports Metro is looking at online retail as a means to beat its rival retailers at CE sales in both its home territory and beyond.
To reach such an aim it's supposed to be planning to buy an online retailer-- with pan-European retailer Redcoon (selling in 10 European countries, including Germany, Austria, France and Spain) as one possible purchase.
Although it's one of Europe's biggest retailer groups (following Carrefour and Tesco), Metro has very little of an online retail presence for its Media Markt/Saturn stores-- reflecting what the FT describes as German retailers' cautious approach to the internet.
Online retail is a growing sector in Metro's native Germany-- with Enigma GfK saying German online retail sales are to exceed €21b in 2011. With Sedia Markt/Saturn falling below expectations in Q4 2010 (with sales down by 2.6%), one can expect a mention of online retail plans come Metro's 2010 result release.