DACH ecommerce sees solid growth

The DACH ecommerce market is expected to continue its steady growth, with annual increases ranging from 3 to 6 percent. The impact of Asian marketplaces is becoming increasingly evident across all three markets. In Austria, their share of ecommerce spending has already surpassed 10 percent.

According to the Austrian Retail Association, online spending in the country is expected to reach a record 12.3 billion euros this year, up 3 percent from 2025. The number of online shoppers is expected to remain stable at 5.8 million, while average spending per shopper is set to increase.

Ecommerce growth in Austria

“The Austrian online retail market has finally reached maturity”, says Rainer Will, managing director of the Austrian Retail Association. “The challenge now is to keep this volume within the country through attractive offers, reliable service and fair competition, so that the domestic economy benefits.”

Cross-border buying remains a concern in Austria

Spending flowing abroad remains a recurring concern for the association, and not without reason. Around 47 percent of Austrian ecommerce spending, equivalent to 5.8 billion euros, goes to foreign retailers. This year, an estimated 1.3 billion euros will be spent on Chinese marketplaces such as Temu, Shein and AliExpress, accounting for 10.6 percent of total online spending. Even so, American ecommerce giant Amazon still commands a considerably larger share of the Austrian market.

Ecommerce growth in Switzerland

Online spending in Switzerland is growing even faster. According to NielsenIQ, ecommerce sales increased by 6 percent last year to the equivalent of around 17.1 billion euros. Forecasts also point to continued growth in 2026.

Cross-border growth moderates in Switzerland

Evgenij Isakulov of NielsenIQ says that foreign retailers continue to gain market share in Swiss ecommerce, although the pace of growth has slowed. “Chinese marketplaces in particular continue to expand their market share. However, the growth of cross-border ecommerce has slowed noticeably compared with the previous year.”

Ecommerce growth in Germany

Recent figures have also been published for Germany, the largest ecommerce market in the DACH region. According to the Online Monitor 2026 from the German Retail Federation (HDE), online spending grew by 3.9 percent last year to 92.3 billion euros. Ecommerce in Germany is expected to grow by a further 4.3 percent this year.

Shein and Temu account for 5% of German ecommerce

The federation describes ecommerce as the “growth engine of retail“. Chinese marketplaces are also taking an increasing share of the German market. According to HDE, Shein and Temu together already account for around 5 percent of ecommerce spending. The federation estimates that these platforms divert billions of euros from the German economy every year.

Ecommerce in Central Europe

Austria’s high share of cross-border ecommerce was also highlighted in a recent study by ECDB and Mastercard on Central Europe. That report estimates ecommerce growth in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to be somewhat higher than the forecasts recently published by the respective national industry organisations. However, much of the growth is being captured by the largest players, leaving smaller online retailers across the DACH region struggling.