Germany

Wero, the new payment service backed by major European banks, remains largely unknown and unloved in Germany. Despite an introductory campaign, seven out of eight Germans report being unaware of the payment method, and only 2 percent have tried Wero so far.

With Trade Assurance, Alibaba introduces what it calls a new standard for safe and transparent digital B2B trade in Europe. The service portfolio is initially available for businesses in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

Ecommerce giant Amazon has announced that it is revising its policy on shipment tracking in January in Germany. The change will affect domestic and cross-border shipments. Merchants on the platform have voiced their concerns about rising costs.

eBay has introduced a new label in Germany, allowing commercial sellers to stand out on the platform. The eBay Top-Service designation provides shoppers with insights into certain aspects of the service, such as timely shipping. This label can be compared to Amazon's Prime.

In Germany, small and medium-sized online stores often run on Shopify’s ecommerce software. The company has a market share of almost 40 percent in the country. German software providers Shopware and JTL complete the top three.

The rumors had been circulating for a while, but now it’s official: Mytheresa wants to acquire industry peer Yoox Net-a-Porter from Richemont. This will create a “leading, global, multi-brand digital luxury group”, according to the involved parties. As part of the deal, Richemont will acquire a 33 percent stake in the rapidly growing Mytheresa.

The days of declining online sales in Germany appear to be over. Last year the net sales of the top thousand webshops fell by 0.2 percent, not adjusted for inflation, compared to a 2.8 percent decline in 2022. A nominal growth is expected for this year.

More and more Germans are becoming familiar with live shopping. Six out of ten consumers know what the term means, which is twice as many as three years ago. However, live shopping is still used by only a small portion of German consumers.

With the opening of its website to third parties in 2020, Otto hoped to regain market share in the online retail market. In the initial years, the company enjoyed the benefits of the platform model, but now it has hit a snag. Fee increases, disputes with selling partners, and internal changes have led to a crisis.

Mytheresa, the luxury ecommerce platform rooted in Germany, saw its revenue increase by 9.8 percent in the past fiscal year. Sales especially surged in the second half of the fiscal year, and profitability also improved over the course of the year.

German Minister for Economic Affairs and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck is working on an ecommerce action plan. With this plan, the government aims to create a level playing field between European online retailers and Asian platforms like Shein and Temu.

SellerX, a buyer of successful marketplace sellers, can no longer meet its financial obligations. The Berlin-based company, only four years old, will be auctioned in the German capital on September 17. This decision was made by financier BlackRock.

Last year, Amazon Germany was able to increase its net sales in retail media with 20 percent. The revenue of its advertising business came to 2.9 billion euros in 2023. This is almost 10 percent of the company’s total revenue in Germany.

Ceconomy, the owner of MediaMarkt and Saturn, has had a strong quarter. Its own online sales increased by almost 10 percent. Additionally, MediaMarkt is growing thanks to external online sales partners: the trading volume on its marketplace has more than doubled in a year.

Online fashion platform Zalando increased its revenue with 3.4 percent in the second quarter, compared to that period last year, to 2.6 billion euros. It also improved its profitability again. As a result, the company has confirmed its expectations for the full financial year.