COLOGNE (dpa-AFX) – The reluctance of many consumers to buy continues to cause problems for online retail in Germany. This year, net sales of 78.3 billion euros are expected for the 1,000 online shops with the highest sales. In nominal terms, this corresponds to an increase of 1 percent compared to the previous year, but after adjusting for prices, it corresponds to a decrease of 3.6 percent, as shown in the study “E-Commerce Market Germany 2024” published by the Cologne retail research institute EHI.
“Online trading suffers from the fact that consumers’ money flows elsewhere, for example into travel and concerts,” said EHI e-commerce expert Lars Hofacker. According to the study, in 2023 the sales of the top 1,000 were only around the same level as the previous year due to increased prices. Dealers recorded a nominal – i.e. not price-adjusted – decline of 0.2 percent.
The largest online shops in Germany last year were still Amazon US0231351067, Otto and Zalando DE000ZAL1111. The Asian shopping portal Shein has recently climbed into the top 20, having increased its sales significantly compared to 2022 (+30.6 percent) and is in 18th place. Rewe (+16.9) and shop-apotheke.com (+15.4) also saw significant growth. Both climbed five places in the rankings. The electrical retailers Saturn (-20.3) and Apple US0378331005 (-13.7) lost the most.
From the perspective of experts, German online trading is stagnating overall at a high level. During the Corona crisis, when shops had to close, the industry boomed and the shops recorded rapid growth. Sales then fell in 2022. We are now “moving back on the development curve that would have been expected without the pandemic,” said Hofacker./cr/DP/zb
