Retail in Germany
Online trade is growing – older than new customer group
Consumers did not completely take their consumption retention – but the Christmas business was better than expected. Nevertheless, the concerns of the industry remain great.
Despite a good Christmas business, retail in Germany looks worries into the future. In a corporate survey, almost a third of the companies described their business situation as bad, as the trade association Germany (HDE) announced. Almost half assume that it goes back to the current year.
“2025 will be a difficult year for retail without giant growth,” HDE general manager Stefan Genth. The association expects price -adjusted sales growth (real) of 0.5 percent for the year as a whole. The real sales level in retail has largely stagnated since 2019.
Christmas business went better than expected
Recently there were also signs of relaxation. Consumers were in the mood in particular in the Christmas business. According to HDE data, they spent a total of around 123.5 billion euros online and in the shops. That was about 1.5 percent more than in the previous year. “In the end, the Christmas business went better when we assumed in November and December,” emphasized Genth.
This also shows current figures from the Federal Statistical Office. Accordingly, real retail sales in December was 1.8 percent above the level of the previous year. Over the entire year 2024, sales increased by around 1.1 percent compared to 2023. According to the statistics, the shipping and internet trade was even around 5 percent.
More and more older customers online
The online trade also continues to attract. New customer groups would be added, said Genth, especially older ones. Younger, in turn, now gave out more money on the Internet for higher quality products. The shopping cart value. Last year, the trade online recorded sales of around 88.4 billion euros and thus about 2.5 percent more than in the previous year. For 2025, the HDE also expects growth of around two percent (real).
However, these figures are significantly removed from the growth rates of previous years. In the crisis year 2020, when the stationary shops were closed, the Internet trade increased by almost a quarter. But even in the years before, it was always around ten percent. According to the company survey, around 60 percent of the companies still do not sell their goods on the Internet. However, there are also many small dealers for whom this step is not worthwhile.
An average of around 5,000 business tasks per year
The trend towards online purchasing continues to affect stationary trade. An average of around 5,000 shops have to give up every year, the HDE said. The start -ups, on the other hand, remain at a stable level. After all: Despite the factory companies, the number of employees in retail has risen slightly in recent years and was recently around 3.1 million, said Genth.
dpa
Source: Stern
