Netto calls itself the "Marken-Discount," the discounter built around brand names, promising shoppers the reassurance of familiar products at unbeatable prices. It is a confident claim, and one that SWR's consumer program "Marktcheck" set out to test in a recent episode. For four weeks, a family shopped exclusively at Netto, putting the chain's range, prices, and everyday quality through their paces and measuring the results against Aldi, Lidl, Kaufland, and Rewe.

The verdict was mixed. Netto's branded assortment held up well, standing out clearly from its discount rivals, but the chain did not always win on price. The Marktcheck team also tested Netto's promotional deals, the freshness of its fruit and vegetables, and the quality of private label staples like orange soda, glass cleaner, and Italian specialties, alongside its online shop, which stocks more than 100,000 products.

It was the stores themselves, though, that told the more interesting story. Out on the street, passersby in cities and small towns gave Netto credit for cleanliness, but the word that came up again and again was chaotic. Cramped aisles, cluttered shelves. Netto itself sees things differently, pointing to a modern store concept built around wide aisles, a clear structure, and contemporary design.

To make sense of that contradiction, SWR turned to marketing expert Prof. Dr. Manfred Krafft of the Marketing Center Münster. The cluttered impression, he explained, often comes down to how densely older stores are stocked: a wide product range with only a few units of each item on the shelf at any time, what retailers call low facings, can make a store feel untidy even when it is technically well organized.

That clutter, Krafft noted, is exactly what disappears in Netto's newer and recently renovated locations. Wider aisles, softer and brighter lighting, higher ceilings that open the space up, all while keeping products easy to find. It reads as more inviting, he observed, without tipping over into anything flashy. It is a shift Netto is investing in at scale: around 400 stores renovated and more than 100 new ones built every year, some using sustainable timber construction.

But better looking is not the same as risk free, and this is where Krafft's analysis lands its sharpest point. The redesign, he argued, is a genuine balancing act. A store that looks friendlier also tends to look pricier, and in neighborhoods where purchasing power runs lower, that upscale polish does not always win shoppers over. For a discounter, in other words, there is such a thing as looking too good.

The full report, "Netto: Der 'Marken-Discount' im Check," is available in the ARD Mediathek.