E-commerce in Germany returned to double-digit growth in the first quarter of 2015 with a 10% increase in sales of physical goods after moderate growth of 7% last year, according to the German e-commerce and distance-selling association bevh.
The overall interactive retail sector, including the declining traditional mail-order business, posted solid growth of 8% in the first quarter, up from its very low 2% growth rate in 2014 which was well below expectations.
During the January-March 2015 period, interactive retail sales in Germany increased by 8% to €12.1 billion. E-commerce sales of goods grew by 10% to €10.2 billion, with their share of the overall interactive trading sector rising by 1.5% to 84.5%, according to the association’s quarterly sales survey.
Even though clothes still represent the top-selling product group with sales reaching €2.7 billion in Q1 2015, this product category experienced a slight decline of 3% compared to the previous year.
In contrast, consumer electronics including telecommunication and accessories continued to grow strongly with sales rising 30% to €1.9 billion. Books, ranked in third place, increased sales for the first time in 12 months, with a slight 1.5% increase to sales of €1 billion.
In terms of different shipper types, multi-channel retailers are the clear winners, even though online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay still keep their dominant position but are increasingly losing market share, the association pointed out.
“During the first quarter of 2014, 54% of the overall interactive retail sales were generated through the online market places and 29% via multi-channel retailers. During the first quarter of 2015, however, this proportion shifted to 50% versus 33%. This reflects a new trend which has started already but is still far from coming to an end: in the future, trade will seamlessly take place via all channels. The companies that have taken this into account have been already benefitting from it,” said bevh executive director Christoph Wenk-Fischer.
According to bevh’s earlier forecast, the German interactive retail sector is expected to grow moderately at a single-digit rate this year, but much slower in comparison to double-digit growth of more than 20% over the last few years.
In terms of overall retail sales, the German retail association HDE expects only 1.5% nominal growth, despite a good start to the new year. In contrast, it expects strong double-digit growth of 12% for the online trade, 2% above the bevh’s forecast.
For the third year in a row, Bevh’s long-running consumer study “Interactive Trade in Germany” is featuring an updated design, in cooperation with the GIM-Society for Innovative market research, with 40,000 consumers being interviewed regarding their shopping behaviour in online and distance trade compared to 30,000 previously.
