Sales stagnate

Online shopping boom in Germany over for the time being

For many people in Germany, the internet remains the first choice for shopping - but the boom in online retail is over for the time being. Internet sales rose slightly last year by just under one percent to 85.4 billion euros, according to the German Retail Association (HDE) on Monday. However, these figures are now a far cry from the high growth rates seen during the coronavirus pandemic, when online retail increased by almost a quarter per year.

Sales have been stagnating at a high level for several years. In the non-food sector, the online share of total German retail sales fell by 0.2 points to 18.5%.

"Online retail was the sales turbo for the retail sector in Germany for many years," said Stephan Tromp, Deputy Managing Director of the HDE. "However, the high growth rates during the coronavirus years make it difficult for the industry to keep raising the bar. We are therefore seeing a further normalization in online sales this year."

In addition to sales, the proportion of companies that are now online is also stagnating, according to HDE. According to the report, around 41% of bricks-and-mortar retailers sold goods online last year. Almost two thirds of them operate their own online store. The remainder sell their goods via retail platforms such as Amazon or Zalando.