65% of German retailers don’t sell online

Two out of three retailers in Germany still don’t sell their products online. Mostly, it’s grocers, clothing stores and specialists such as jewelers that don’t sell on the internet.

A survey held by Handelsverbandes Deutschland, among 850 retailers in Germany, shows that retail sales in Germany will grow 2 percent this year, compared to the situation last year. Ecommerce remains to be the industry’s growth driver.

Still, many medium-sized retailers are struggling with the challenges of digitization. “Those who are not represented online today, no longer exist for many consumers”, CEO Stefan Genth says. “Customers expect to find the retailer in the pedestrian zone and online.”

Online marketplace important distribution channel

The study shows that 65 percent of retailers aren’t active with ecommerce. And 26 percent sell online through their own online shop, while 16 percent sell through an online marketplace such as eBay and Amazon.

Ecommerce represents half of retail growth

While stationary retail sales will increase by a nominal 1.3 percent, ecommerce in Germany is said to increase by around 9 percent to 57.8 billion euros. Ecommerce accounts for almost half of the absolute annual growth in retail.