eCommerce in Germany Reached 58.46 Billion Euros in 2017

The retail eCommerce industry in Germany showed an increase of 10.9 percent or 58.54 billion euros at the end of 2017. At least every eighth of a euro is spent in the retail sector from eCommerce sales.

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According to the German Association of eCommerce and Mail Order (Behv), companies with several distribution channels increased their online and mail-order sales by at least 21 percent or 20.1 billion euros, which is almost 3.5 million euros more than in 2016. Online marketplaces also saw an increase in sales of 4.4 percent to 27.9 euros.

“With online excellence, these retailers are able to not only survive alongside, but also in cooperation with online marketplaces, and even to grow further,” Gero Furchheim, Behv president.

Significant growth of eCommerce in smaller communities

Further analysis of Behv shows that at least 60 percent of eCommerce sales came from orders in communities with less than 50,000 population. Sales grew by 17 percent in 2017 in these locations.

“Today, urban and rural populations no longer differ in their online shopping behavior. The Internet has become the guarantor for the population in structurally weak areas to be able to realize equal living conditions everywhere,” Christoph Wenk-Fische, Behv, Managing Director.

The study used the Hanseatic city of Hamburg as an example of how parcel deliveries from mail and online order business only resulted in a very small part of the daily delivery traffic.

The daily traffic load is more influenced by the B2B delivery traffic from catering and stationary retail. Behv expects even more exponential growth for eCommerce this year at around 9.4 percent or 63.9 billion euros.

The result of the 2017 analysis indicates that the eCommerce industry represented by Behv shows a significant growth of 8.8 percent and an increase in profit. The EUR sales volume of at least 62.15 billion euros is expected from private customers. eCommerce remains its positive pace and continues to be an outstanding growth driver over orders by letter or telephone.

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