METRO and IBM transform digital marketing processes with gen AI and data-driven marketing tools

Böblingen and Düsseldorf, Germany, 04 March 2026 – METRO, one of the internationally leading wholesalers with over 15 million customers worldwide, aims to further accelerate its growth with current information, targeted and personalised marketing campaigns and modern real-time processes.

By digitalising central processes and comprehensively networking data, the plan is to increase turnover in large-scale markets and specifically expand the delivery sector (Food Service Distribution, FSD). To realise this digital transformation, METRO and IBM iX, the customer experience experts within IBM, jointly developed new processes and consolidated and integrated data from different systems.

Centralised customer data management and a new multichannel marketing platform, jointly developed by IBM iX and METRO, form the core of this transformation. In order to increase conversion rates and improve customer communication, the demand for high-quality and quickly accessible content is growing rapidly in the areas of marketing, CRM, SEO and e-commerce. There is a need for texts that can be accessed at short notice and tailored precisely to different target groups—in multiple languages and formats.
Oliver Zimmer, Client Partner at IBM iX, explains: “With the new multichannel platform and centralised customer data management, we make it possible for METRO to deliver high-quality content quickly and in a target-group specific manner—across channels, in multiple languages and efficiently. This allows us to increase conversion rates and sustainably improve customer communication.”

More efficient content creation with generative AI

METRO is setting new standards in digital marketing with an innovative project to implement an AI-supported content workbench based on IBM watsonx.ai. The solution facilitates targeted customer communication tailored to relevant focus topics, online trends and current events. Based on pre-configured prompts, marketing specialists at METRO can create structured briefings and quickly and precisely generate high-quality editable variants for headlines, outlines, product descriptions, email content and SEO texts.

The intuitive solution combines AI-generated suggestions with human editorial expertise, allowing METRO to quickly and consistently produce content for all markets. After a successful concept study, watsonx.ai now forms the basis for the further expansion of AI use in the creation and implementation of METRO’s marketing campaigns.

Emirhan Yasdiman, Global Lead SEO at METRO AG, states: “We were impressed by the speed and quality at which IBM iX implemented the AI workbench. It enables us to efficiently respond to the growing demand for high-quality content. This noticeably reduces our teams’ workload and is a real productivity boost.”

Integration into a holistic digital strategy

The AI-supported solution is part of a larger, future-oriented digital strategy that has improved personalistion and standardised the success measurement of marketing activities. For several years now, METRO and IBM iX have been working in a digital transformation partnership with METRO countries, METRO.digital and METRO AG to completely modernise the MarTech landscape and integrate ten data sources. This also includes fundamental organisational changes and the introduction of new ways of working in marketing planning and operations.

Tino Hölters, Vice President Marketing at METRO AG, says: “IBM iX has become an indispensable partner in the digital transformation of our customer communication.”

About METRO

METRO is a leading international food wholesaler specialised in the needs of hotels, restaurant and caterers (HoReCa) as well as independent food retailers and kiosks (traders). The company operates 622 stores, is active in over 30 countries and employs more than 84,000 people worldwide. More than 15 million METRO customers around the globe profit from the wholesaler’s unique multichannel mix: they can procure their goods both in one of the large local markets and via delivery (Food Service Distribution, FSD)—all digitally supported and networked. At the same time, METRO MARKETS is being created as an international online marketplace for the needs of professional customers. “Acting sustainably” is one of the company’s core principles. METRO is listed in the MSCI, Sustainalytics and CDP sustainability indices and rankings. In the 2024/25 financial year, METRO generated revenue of €32.5 billion.