Table of Contents
Overview
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- What you need to know
- Areas covered in this report
Executive Summary
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- The market
- The economy
- Online sales
- Segmentation/what they buy online
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- Figure 1: Germany: online sales by product category, 2017
- Broadband access
- Leading players
- Key metrics
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- Figure 2: Germany: leading online retailers’ shares of online sales, 2017
- The consumer
- What they buy online
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- Figure 3: Germany: products purchased online in the last 12 months, May 2018
- Where they shop online
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- Figure 4: Germany: retailers bought from online in the last 12 months, May 2018
- Important features of online retailers
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- Figure 5: Germany: important features of retailers when shopping online, May 2018
- Membership of Amazon Prime
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- Figure 6: Germany: membership of Amazon Prime, May 2018
- What we think
Issues and Insights
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- Is now the time for multichannel retailers?
- The facts
- The implications
- Grocery e-commerce – an update
- The facts
- The implications
The Market – What You Need to Know
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- German economy continues to grow
- Online sales grow 10.9%
- Clothing and electronics are the biggest categories
- Broadband access hits 92%
- 84% of German consumers own a smartphone
- Three-quarters of Germans shop online
Market Size
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- The economy
- Online sales and forecasts
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- Figure 7: Germany: online sales (incl VAT), 2013-18
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- Figure 8: Germany: online sales (incl VAT), forecasts, 2018-23
- Segmentation/What they buy online
- Clothing and electronics account for half of online spending
- Food still underrepresented despite growth
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- Figure 9: Germany: online sales by product category, incl VAT, 2017
- Household goods the fastest growing category
- Could books be the first category to reach online maturity?
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- Figure 10: Germany: growth in online spending by product category, 2016-17
Market Drivers
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- Broadband access hits 92%
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- Figure 11: Germany: broadband penetration, % all households, 2008-17
- 84% own a smartphone
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- Figure 12: Germany: technology products personally owned, Q3 2017
- PC still the most popular way to access the internet
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- Figure 13: Germany: devices used to access the internet in the last three months, Q3 2017
- Migration online continues
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- Figure 14: Germany: percentage saying they have bought online in the last year, 2013-17
Leading Players – What You Need to Know
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- Amazon’s domination continues
- eBay is now the slowest growing of the leading online players
- Ceconomy enjoys strong growth away from Metro Group
- Amazon continues to grow its share of the market
Leading Players
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- Amazon’s continues to dominate
- eBay the slowest growing of the leading online players
- Otto Group sales boosted by launch of marketplace
- Zalando keeps on growing
- Ceconomy sees strong growth away from Metro Group
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- Figure 15: Germany: leading online retailers, sales, 2015-17
Market Shares
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- Diverging fortunes for the American giants
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- Figure 16: Germany: leading online retailers’ shares of all online sales, 2015-17
The Consumer – What You Need to Know
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- Clothing the most popular online purchase
- Amazon dominates German e-commerce
- Free returns are the most important feature
- 31% are members of Amazon Prime
What They Buy Online
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- 92% of internet users have shopped online
- Almost two-thirds buy clothing online
- Food and drink remain relatively niche
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- Figure 17: Germany: products purchased online in the last 12 months, May 2018
- All demographics shop for clothing online
- Similar story for electronics
- DIY/gardening attracts an older and more affluent customer
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- Figure 18: Germany: products purchased online in the last 12 months, by age and affluence, May 2018
Where They Shop Online?
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- Amazon dominates German e-commerce
- Store-based retailers were slow to get going
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- Figure 19: Germany: retailers bought from online in the last 12 months, May 2018
- Broad appeal of Amazon…
- …leaves others looking niche
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- Figure 20: Germany: profile of shoppers by retailer bought from online in the last 12 months, May 2018
Important Features of Online Retailers
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- Free returns are vital for online shoppers
- Price is an important driver of online shopping
- German consumers don’t need stores
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- Figure 21: Germany: important features of retailers when shopping online, May 2018
- Price-conscious older shoppers
- Express delivery appeals to the young
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- Figure 22: Germany: extremely important factors, by average age and household income, May 2018
- Important features by what they buy
- Free delivery and returns especially important for clothing shoppers
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- Figure 23: Germany: extremely important features of online retailers, clothing shoppers compared to the average, May 2018
- While electronics shoppers look for range and ease of navigation
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- Figure 24: Germany: extremely important features of online retailers, consumer electronic shoppers compared to the average, May 2018
- Online food and drink shoppers most likely to want physical stores
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- Figure 25: Germany: online shoppers describing physical stores as an ‘extremely important’ feature of an online retailer, percentage point difference from the average, May 2018
Membership of Amazon Prime
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- 31% are currently members of Amazon Prime
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- Figure 26: Germany: membership of Amazon Prime, May 2018
- Young parents see the appeal of Prime
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- Figure 27: Germany: membership of Amazon Prime, by age, May 2018
Appendix: Data sources, Abbreviations and Supporting Information
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- Abbreviations
- Data sources
Amazon.com
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- What we think
- Geographical expansion
- Prime
- Marketplace
- AWS
- Profitability
- What next?
- Food
- Clothing
- Electricals and others
- Company background
- Company performance
- Published sales and total sales volumes
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- Figure 28: Amazon: sales breakdown by source of income, 2015-17
- Figure 29: Amazon: sales breakdown by source of income, 2017
- First quarter 2018
- Gross merchandise volume (GMV)
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- Figure 30: Amazon: estimated group gross merchandise volume, 2015-17
- GMV by country
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- Figure 31: Amazon.com Inc: group financial performance, 2013-17
- UK sales by product
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- Figure 32: Amazon UK: estimated sales by product, 2017
- Retail offering
eBay
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- What we think
- Marketplace
- No longer a fast-growing business
- Progress in 2017
- Shortcomings vs Amazon
- What next?
- Company background
- Company performance
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- Figure 33: eBay: group gross merchandise volume, 2013-17
- Figure 34: eBay: major markets, estimated growth in GMV in local currency, 2014-17
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- Figure 35: eBay Europe: sales, excluding VAT, 2015-17
- Retail offering
Otto Group (Multichannel Retail)
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- What we think
- Marketplace development widening product choice and attracting new customers
- ABOUT YOU doubles sales
- ‘Conversational commerce’
- Sports lifestyle hub
- Parcel shops, micro depots and trunk delivery
- Using augmented reality technology to make choosing the right product easier
- Otto Now expanded to include over 100 products
- Company background
- Company performance
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- Figure 36: Otto Group (Multichannel Retail): group sales performance, 2013/14-2017/18
- Figure 37: Otto Group: major brands within the Multichannel Retail segment, 2017/18
- Retail offering
Zalando
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- What we think
- Complementary beauty category offering
- Pop-up an opportunity to raise awareness of the online style advisory service
- Growing role of personalisation
- Scaling up logistics network and order fulfilment options
- Rising fulfilment costs a sign of things to come?
- Local and regional-specific payment options boosting basket size and conversion rates
- Company background
- Company performance
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- Figure 38: Zalando: group financial performance, 2013-17
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- Figure 39: Zalando: key metrics, 2015-Q1 2018
- Retail offering
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