Asian marketplaces lose market share in Germany

German sales for Shein, Temu and AliExpress have dropped 35.5 percent in the third quarter, compared to that same period in 2025. The total sales came to 566 million euros. As a result, the market share has fallen to 3.1 percent. A quarter earlier, their share was still 5.3 percent.

These data come from a consumer survey for the third quarter of this year, from the German Ecommerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (bevh). It focuses on ecommerce in Germany. According to the report, online sales increased 2.9 percent compared to the same period last year. They amounted to 18.5 billion euros. The sales growth rate is below the inflation rate of 3.3 percent in September.

‘Declining income expectations impact purchasing behavior’

“After signs of recovery in the first half of the year, sharply rising energy prices and declining income expectations are now impacting online purchasing behavior”, notes Alien Mulyk, CEO of bevh. At the same time, there are fewer low-cost packages from Asia reaching Europe. This seems to have negatively impacted overall market development. “The rapid growth of Temu and Shein in Germany has stalled. As a result, overall market sales are declining, without local providers being able to benefit from the weakness of their Asian competitors.”

Local providers are not able to benefit from the current weakness of Asian competitors

Since July 1 of this year, a flat import fee of 3 euros per product category in a package has come into effect. Additionally, every shipment from non-EU countries is now subject to customs duties. According to bevh, this has resulted in much lower sales from Shein, Temu and AliExpress in Germany.

“The higher duties are having a significant impact on low-margin, low-priced products from Asia. However, tariffs alone are not enough. To ensure fair competition, the EU must strengthen market surveillance authorities and enforce existing law. The EU has recently initiated important steps such as the establishment of a common EU customs authority and the mandatory transmission of standardized product IDs”, Mulyk explains.

Differences across product categories

Online sales in pharmaceuticals, drugstore items and groceries continued increasing strongly in the third quarter; with 15.4 percent, 14.3 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively. Online clothing sales increased 4.9 percent and shoes increased 6.4 percent. These categories all grew more than the overall market.

Purchases in large product categories were postponed

Purchases in large, and more expensive, product categories were postponed. Electronics and telecommunications decreased 4.6 percent, and furniture, lamps and decoration decreased 5.2 percent.

Market dynamics across types of retailers stays the same

Just as in previous quarters, sales via online marketplaces increased the most (with 5 percent). Multichannel retailers increased 2.5 percent via their online channels, and pure online stores decreased 0.8 percent in sales.