These are the best online stores in Germany

Last Monday, it was time for the Shop-Award 2018, an award show organized by Internet World Business. This event praises the best online stores in Germany and other German-speaking countries. This year’s edition saw ecommerce companies such as About You and Mymuesli go home with the coveted trophies.

Internet World Business started with the awards in 2012. As it was already the publisher of a trade journal for digital commerce and the organized or the popular German ecommerce event Internet World, the organization thought the only thing still missing, was an award show to honor the ecommerce companies in Germany and other German-speaking countries.

Best online pure player: About You

Yesterday, on the eve of Internet World Expo, the Shop-Awards were handed out. The first category, ‘Best online pure player’, happened to be a close neck-and-neck race, but in the end it was won by Otto subsidiary About You. It managed to beat Zalando and online sneaker shop 43einhalb. “For me, one of the most important aspects was how About You managed to decode influencer marketing as one of the first”, juror Martin Groß-Albenhausen said.

Second place: Zalando
Third place: 43einhalb

Best multichannel retailer: MediaMarkt

Maybe much to the surprise of many, MediaMarkt happened to be the best multichannel retailer of the year. The winner of last year, and the runner-up of 2016, Douglas was superseded by a company that once was mocked a lot by the industry. “The late online bloomer can be seen today”, juror Gerrit Heinemann praised MediaMarkt. “This winner stands for strength, power and perseverance, and it can still bite.”

Second place: Matratzen Concord
Third place: Douglas

Best brand retailer: Mymuesli

The award for best brand retailer went to Mymuesli. It’s the successor of last year’s winner, football club BVB Dortmund. “This is a classic start-up story”, juror Susanne Fittkau said about Mymuesli. “It has a highly successful omnichannel strategy with an extremely high willingness for innovation. In the food industry, there are few players that have been written about so much.”

Second place: BVB Dortmund
Third place: Bonprix

Best B2B retailer:  Gastro Kurz

B2B ecommerce companies got their own award category. And it’s catering wholesaler Gastro Kurz that won the trophy. “We started testing the market in 2004 and we realized it worked. And that just turned into something more”, says Blasius Damaschek, managing director at 7thSense, which oversees the online store of Gastro Kurz.

Second place: Jungheinrich
Third place: Normfest

Hidden champion: Frankfurt Brett

An interesting category is the category of hidden champions, for small online shops that simply can’t keep up with the development budgets of big players like Zalando or About You. Frankfurt Brett, an online shop dedicated to amateur and professional chefs, was this year’s category winner.

Second place: Don Carne
Third place: Mietski.com