96% of consumers turn to online shopping, Temu and Shein are becoming increasingly popular in another country!

The German e-commerce market has flourished in the past two years, with online sales reaching 85 billion euros in 2023, of which 55% were completed through smartphones.

It is clear that the importance of online platforms on the German market is increasing year by year.

Recently, foreign media announced the top five shopping channels in Germany in the past three months. Online platforms ranked first with a share of 62%; retail websites ranked second, accounting for 53%; mobile applications, social media stores and second-hand platforms followed closely behind.

A survey conducted by a professional team on 1,507 German consumers showed that 96% of them shop online, of which 23.5% buy most of their products online, and less than 10% choose to buy all their products online.

In terms of age, consumers with the largest purchase volume are between 35 and 44 years old . They purchased nearly 8 items online on average in the past three months, and their spending accounted for the largest proportion; consumers aged 25-34 followed closely behind .

In terms of product sales, the five most popular categories are: outerwear, sleepwear and footwear , cosmetics and health products , toys , smartphones and communications products, and home technology and electronics .

It is worth mentioning that among all online platforms in Germany, Amazon still ranks first. In addition, other e-commerce platforms have also developed quite well in the German market, such as Temu and Shein.

According to a survey by the research organization IFH, 91% of people in Germany are aware of these two e-commerce platforms, and 43% say they are using them. This proportion is 10% higher than the same period last year , which undoubtedly proves that more and more German consumers are turning to Temu and Shein.

Data also shows that Temu has been visited 29.1 million times in Germany, and 32% of people have purchased goods on it; Shein's order volume in Germany has more than doubled compared to 2023, and one in five consumers shops on it at least once a month.

In this regard, Kai Hudetz, Managing Director of IFH, said that the Chinese e-commerce platforms Temu and Shein offer a wide range of products, some of which cannot even be found on other platforms, such as home accessories. In addition, affected by inflation, German consumers cannot refuse low-priced goods, which further increases the usage of Temu and Shein .

He also pointed out that among these consumers, two-thirds were keen on buying "bargains" and half bought products that they could not afford otherwise on these two platforms.

However, the increasing popularity of the platform does not mean that it has gained a firm foothold in the country. Take Temu for example, because its product display page has misleading and manipulative behavior, which violates the EU Digital Services Act, and has been complained by several member states including Germany a few days ago.

Although the German market has huge room for development, if the platform does not focus on legal operations and providing high-quality products, consumers' online shopping enthusiasm is likely to fade prematurely, which is not conducive to the long-term development of the platform.

Temu

SHEIN