Rewe, one of Germany's largest retailers, said it is looking to sell its ProMarkt chain of consumer electronics stores because it is unable to compete with competition from online retailers such as Amazon.com.
_0">Rewe said the stores had little prospect of a profitable future, and that with a market share of just 1.4 percent in Germany, restructuring was not appropriate.
A spokesman declined to comment on whether interest had been shown in the chain, which has 70 stores. Rewe would consider the sales of stores individually or as a package, he said.
Other European electronics retailers to feel the heat from online competition include Metro AG's Media-Saturn and Darty, which is closing loss-making operations in Spain.
ProMarkt saw sales drop 15.5 percent last year. By comparison, Media-Saturn, which finally started selling products online in 2011 with the acquisition of Redcoon, reported a 4 percent rise in sales in Germany for 2012.
Metro declined to comment on Wednesday on whether it would be interested in ProMarkt.