German ecommerce is growing again
After two years of decline, online product spending in Germany has increased once more. In 2024, spending reached 80.6 billion euros, an increase of 1.1 percent. Stronger growth is expected for this year.
Arjan van Oosterhout has been contributing to Ecommerce News Europe since the spring of 2023. He writes news articles for the website on a freelance basis.
Arjan is an experienced journalist in the field of ecommerce. After his student days in Utrecht, he began his career in 2004 at the South African newspaper, the Cape Argus, in Cape Town. Upon his return to the Netherlands, Arjan transitioned into trade journalism. He worked for MarketingTribune and, since 2008, served as an editor and later editor-in-chief of Twinkle, a well-known Dutch trade publication on digital commerce. He was also closely involved with the Twinkle100, an annual study of the largest online retailers in the Netherlands.
Since 2020, Arjan has been an independent entrepreneur. Under the company name Bureau AvO, he works for various journalistic and commercial clients, contributing to articles, magazines, books, and conferences, always at the intersection of content and commerce.
After two years of decline, online product spending in Germany has increased once more. In 2024, spending reached 80.6 billion euros, an increase of 1.1 percent. Stronger growth is expected for this year.
OnBuy, a popular cashback marketplace from the United Kingdom, has quietly begun its European expansion. The business reports 30 percent day-on-day sales growth in key European markets, with a rapidly growing backlog of retailers.
After two years of declining revenue, Zalando has regained its growth path. Revenue grew by an estimated 3.9 percent to 10.5 billion euros last year, setting a new record. The company has again revised its profit forecast upwards.
Galaxus, Switzerland's largest ecommerce company, saw its platform sales increase 18 percent last year, reaching 3.4 billion euros. Growth was particularly strong outside its home market, with further European expansion on the agenda.
Whatnot, a livestream shopping platform competing with TikTok Shop, is preparing for further European expansion. The U.S.-based company announced this move following a fresh capital injection. The video platform is also aiming to expand into new categories.
Zalando customers in Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy will have less time to return orders starting tomorrow. The return window will be shortened from 100 days to 30 days. Changes to the loyalty program, Zalando Plus, are also imminent in these three countries.
MediaMarkt saw its marketplace revenue double in the past fiscal year. In the new year, the electronics retailer will open its virtual doors in Belgium, Poland, and Turkey. An additional expansion into new product categories is expected to attract new buyers and sellers.
A new European regulation imposes strict requirements on products sales in the EU market. Many online stores and marketplaces sellers in the United Kingdom lack sufficient arrangements and have opted to stop selling to customers in the EU altogether.
If Zalando acquires About You, the company will not only strengthen its position in the consumer market but also become the new owner of Scayle, a provider of ecommerce software. This acquisition would create "the next B2B powerhouse for the ecommerce industry in Europe".
TikTok Shop has launched in Spain today, according to various market observers and sellers on the platform. This marks the first country in continental Europe where TikTok users can shop directly.
More than eight in ten Dutch people bought online in the first half of this year, a record. Especially for personal care products, medicines and vitamin pills, more consumers went online.
With 16.3 million monthly users, Temu is more popular in Germany than anywhere else in the European Union. The more well-known Shein attracts more attention in France, Spain, and Italy, but generates the most revenue in Europe in Germany.
According to Eurostat figures, 58.1 percent of all consumers in the European Union made a recent online purchase last year. Ecommerce is most established in the Netherlands and least in Bulgaria. In many parts of Southeast Europe, adoption remains below 35 percent.
Shopify now supports payouts in multiple currencies for European merchants. For many larger online retailers, this eliminates a key reason to operate multiple stores simultaneously or opt for alternative ecommerce software.
The Platform Group collaborates with approximately thirteen thousand sales partners, the German company behind several vertical marketplaces reports. In the first nine months of this year, trading volume increased by 30 percent. Profits grew even more significantly.