Germany is Europe’s most populated country, with a population of 82.9 million. With a growing economy, e-commerce, and other industries, it is also one of the wealthiest countries.
Germany is the world’s second largest e-commerce market, after only the United Kingdom. Germany is much ahead of the European norm in terms of e-commerce users, Internet penetration, and average online expenditure, making it an ideal potential for e-commerce enterprises trying to expand.
Germany’s e-commerce business was expected to have reached US $109.8 billion in 2018, an increase of 10% over 2017. Consumer spending per person is approximately US $ 867 per year, and the online population is approximately 72.2 million.
While Germany may appear to be following conventional e-commerce trends, several aspects of this European country set it apart.
To begin, about 80% of the German population uses a smartphone, indicating that commerce is booming. Indeed, mobile e-commerce is increasing at a higher rate than any other segment, with a growth rate of 12 percent projected in 2018. According to eMarketer, mobile shopping will account for 40% of digital retail sales in 2019.
Germany is one of Europe’s most populated countries and the second largest e-commerce market in Europe, trailing only the United Kingdom. Revenues in the e-commerce market are expected to reach 82.3155 million in 2020, a 1% increase over the previous year.
Additionally, Germans have distinct payment preferences. Rather than paying in advance, Germans prefer to use payment plans or create accounts. PayPal is the most popular payment option, with 52% of German Internet users preferring it, followed by invoices at 26%, credit or debit cards at only 12%, and direct debit at 6%, leaving a meagre 1% preferring to pay in cash upon delivery.
They have some of the highest return rates in the world, owing to a regulation that permits consumers to return online goods without providing a justification within 14 days.
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Germany’s Top 10 E-commerce Sites
While huge American e-commerce firms such as Amazon and eBay predictably forecast Germany’s e-commerce sector, Germany continues to create an e-commerce industry with abundant demand and prospects for hungry German brands. As seen by the success of regional brands such as Zalando, MediaMarkt, and Otto.
To obtain a comprehensive picture of the German e-commerce market, we dug into the data to discover who is operating in the German e-commerce business.
1. eWorldTrade
eWorldtrade is a global business-to-business marketplace with over a decade of experience in digital branding and web development. At the moment, the B2B Marketplace has over 500,000 registered members and is rapidly developing its database of manufacturers, suppliers, and businesses from across the world.
The digital trading platform has been thoughtfully created and developed to help businesses compete more effectively by providing a secure, rapid, reliable, and legitimate medium of trading.
eWorldTrade incorporates all new advanced features and functionalities that no other B2B platform has ever offered. To compete with competitive marketing trends and brand growth, eWorldTrade is the only B2B marketplace that enables millions of traders to have a global presence.
2. Amazon Deutschland
Amazon is a US-based e-commerce behemoth that has been in operation since the 1990s and has long maintained a strong presence in the German market. Amazon Germany is the country’s third largest website and the world’s third largest e-commerce site.
With a broad range of products ranging from books to digital media, apparel, gadgets, and even video streaming and cloud computing, Amazon Germany has firmly established a foothold in the German market.
3. eBay Deutschland
eBay, another e-commerce pioneer in the United States, is an online marketplace that enables buyers to purchase nearly anything from sellers, both people and corporations, using its online auction or direct selling platform. Since its inception in 1995, eBay has spread to over 20 nations.
eBay Germany is the country’s sixth largest website, selling products in areas such as vehicles, fashion, home, and electronics, the latter of which is the most popular among German consumers.
4. eBay Kleinanzeigen
eBay Kleinanzeigen, or eBay Classifieds in English, is Germany’s largest classified website, allowing users to post free listings and browse a variety of products, whether new, used, private, or commercial.
eBay Kleinanzeigen was founded in 2005 and has grown to become the eighth largest website in the country, attracting people looking for anything from automobiles to real estate, services, leisure, home and garden, fashion, and electronics, to mention a few.
5. Otto
Otto is a German brand that began as a mail order business in 1949 and grew into a thriving e-commerce enterprise to become Germany’s largest online department store. Additionally, it is a globally recognised brand, with the corporation now operating in 20 countries across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Offering a diverse selection of products across categories such as home, fashion, sports, and electronics, Otto appeals to a broad German audience, notably in the sectors of home goods, clothes, and electronics, where the brand flourishes.
In 2015, its internet channel generated over 6 billion euros in revenue, placing it second only to Amazon. To sustain its upline, it recently established a partnership with JD.com to expand its foreign product sales in China.
6. Idealo
Idealo, founded in 2000 in Germany, is a price comparison and e-commerce website that enables users to not only compare prices to find the greatest value items, but also to make purchases directly through the platform, making it one of the country’s largest e-commerce sites.
Idealo includes a wide variety of categories, including sports and outdoors, babies and children, home and garden, food and drink, games, and pharmaceuticals, making among the most complete e-commerce and comparing sites available.
7. Media Markt
Media Markt is a German electronics retailer that began as a brick-and-mortar store in 1979 before expanding massively across Europe, reaching 12 additional countries and achieving even greater success when the business went online.
Media Markt, which is owned by MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group, is the world’s second largest electronics brand, trailing only US competitor Best Buy.
Media Markt also brings a subdomain: Saturn
MediaMarkt owns this domain. Saturn Retail Group, which is also the parent company of electronics behemoth MediaMarkt, services the consumer electronics sector by offering a diverse selection of electronics.
Saturn operates in a number of countries, including Austria, Luxembourg, and Russia, both online and in-store.
8. Lidl
Another success story from Germany, Lidl is a budget grocery business that sells groceries and other goods and has become a household name throughout much of Europe. Since its inception in 1930, Lidl has expanded to 10,000 locations across the majority of Europe and even the United States.
Lidl’s e-commerce operation has aided in the company’s expansion into the German market, providing customers around the country with access to its affordable food and items.
Did you know?
According to E-commerce News Europe, one in every three online customers submits more than one order per week, with 33% of those orders being placed through smartphone. According to data from the Bundesverband E-commerce und Versandhandel, the mobile share was 20% five years ago.
9. Zalando
Zalando is a German e-commerce company that specialises in fashion, shoes, beauty, accessories, and sports. The company sells products from a variety of worldwide and regional niche brands, with fashion being the most profitable section.
Since its inception by Rocket Internet in 2008, Zalando has evolved to become a European online fashion mega-brand with operations in fifteen countries and several worldwide affiliate firms. It is still Germany’s third largest website, with 3.8 million monthly users and 872 million euros in revenue.
10. Thomann
Thomann is an intriguing addition to the top ten as a specialised store of music equipment ranging from musical instruments to studio supplies such as lighting, professional audio equipment, and everything else necessary to play, produce, or display music.
Thomann was founded in 1954 and has grown to be a key participant in the e-commerce market, with the site covering different nations and adapting the language to the audience’s region.
Which countries frequently buy from Germany?
Germany represents a very interesting market for Spanish online stores since 24% of German online shoppers buy from other European e-commerce stores. Germany imports online mainly from stores in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Italy and Poland. Globally, China, the United States and the United Kingdom lead the ranking of the highest online sales in the German country.
Trust, loyalty, familiarity, quality and safety are very important values for a German consumer. That is why it would be convenient for Spanish sellers who want to enter the German market to have a local website, translated into German and including a legal statement confirming who is the owner of the site. Including quality seals and certificates will also help bring German consumers closer to your brand.
Having online store adapted for mobiles is essential. According to an eMarketer report , mobile retail in Germany reached €22.39 billion in 2018. That is, mobile channel sales accounted for almost 39% of all e-commerce sales to individuals.
German Consumer Characteristics
According to a study by the technology company Lengow on the e-commerce landscape in Germany, German buyers are particularly concerned about how their personal data is used, payment security, delivery terms and return policies.
What do Germans buy?
Germans mainly buy clothing and footwear (27%), consumer electronics (15%), health and beauty products (11%), household and garden items (10%), and related to sports and leisure (10%).
Variety of delivery alternatives
German buyers prefer home or neighbor delivery, but are increasingly open to other delivery alternatives, such as collection points or lockers. At DHL Parcel we have our own network with 23,000 collection points and more than 5,000 lockers, so hiring our e-commerce shipping service to Germany will allow you to access a market with more than 80 million consumers, to whom you can offer the best delivery service.
What are the effects of COVID-19 on German e-commerce market?
During the epidemic, Germany, like other nations, saw an increase in online sales, particularly of food and pharmaceutical items, attracting purchasers who were not previously frequent e-commerce clients. Food and hygiene goods are currently thriving on the internet. Online fashion sales are down.
According to AfterPay Insights, a European post-delivery payment service, German customers continued to transition from offline to online purchasing in June.
The same report shows that in June 2020, 17% of German online shoppers purchased more online and less in physical stores, while 7% purchased more in physical stores and less online. German buyers predict they will buy less overall but do more online shopping in July.
Prior to the epidemic, internet retailers controlled the majority of e-commerce sales. Physical retailers in Germany have been sluggish to establish an internet presence, but Covid-19 has driven several to create websites. Before the epidemic, most physical stores were tiny enterprises with less than five employees; they saw little reason to sell online. Some of these businesses have collaborated to build small local online markets that distribute food and other products locally.
What’s the usual payment gateway in Germany for e-commerce?
In terms of means of payment, the most popular form of payment is PayPal followed by credit card.
Another unique aspect of German e-commerce is the large number of consumers who pay by invoice. This aligns well with the lenient returns policy. Billing means that consumers can receive and examine your products without having to pay upfront. They can decide if they want to keep or return them before paying. In 2019, 81 percent of German companies still offered payment on account or invoice. To cater to the changing payment preferences of German consumers, it is essential to develop a payment gateway that is easy to use and secure.
However, Germans are gradually adapting to digital payments. According to the E-commerce Foundation, PayPal now accounts for 56 percent of online payments with invoices at 26 percent.
