German online sales see strong growth in Q3

Overall, e-commerce growth in the third quarter was slow year-on-year, but data showed that online sales in Germany reached 22.2 billion euros in the third quarter , an increase of 14.8%, the strongest growth in the third quarter in five years.

While consumers are returning to the country’s physical stores, e-commerce has been growing steadily in Germany. Online sales are the only sales channel to have grown by double digits every quarter since the pandemic began .

As the epidemic eases, offline physical stores are gradually opening, but consumers still prefer online shopping. Multi-channel retailers saw the strongest growth in online sales in the third quarter.

Transactions in the online market are mainly conducted by retailers that combine offline and online activities , and their transaction volumes continue to grow significantly in the long-term trend, with sales exceeding 10 billion euros in each quarter for the first time in 2021.

Relevant industry insiders said, " The positive development of multi-channel retailers has contributed to the industry's strong performance, which is particularly gratifying. Many of them were previously purely offline companies that started e-commerce sales channels under high pressure during the epidemic. This makes us optimistic and also shows that many of these retailers have successfully established their own position in the field of digital transactions . "

Among all the growing categories, the strongest growth in the third quarter was in food, DIY and flowers, and hobbies and leisure products. The fastest growing product category was daily necessities, which increased by 24.8% , including food, drugstore products and pet food .

According to the survey results, the total online sales in the first nine months of this year were approximately 67.4 billion euros. If the sales of online services are also taken into account, the total amount will reach approximately 74 billion euros. In addition, due to the peak sales season in the last quarter, it is expected that German e-commerce sales will exceed the 100 billion euro mark for the first time this year.

As one of the important markets in Europe, German e-commerce cannot be underestimated. Sellers should also pay more attention to local consumption habits and make timely strategic adjustments based on market conditions.

Europe

Germany

E-commerce