Inflation and the slump in consumption are putting a strain on online retail in Germany.
In the third quarter, non-price-adjusted sales fell by 13.9 percent to a good 17 billion euros compared to the same period last year, as the Federal Association of E-Commerce and Mail Order (BEVH) announced on Tuesday. This means that sales would be below the level of the comparable period in the pre-Corona year of 2019. Online retail experienced a boom during the pandemic as people increasingly stayed at home and shopped more online.
“The burden of spending on private households remains high and the overall economy is heading into recession. Online retail cannot isolate itself from this,” said BEVH deputy managing director Martin Groß-Albenhausen.
Online retail contracted particularly sharply in the third quarter for entertainment goods (18.9 percent) and clothing (17.5 percent). Sales of everyday goods also fell significantly – such as drugstore items (15.7 percent) and food (13.2).
“Not even five percent of the people we surveyed say they want to shop more online in the next 30 days than before,” said Groß-Albenhausen, referring to an association survey. A good quarter of those surveyed even wanted to restrict themselves more. From January to December, the association commissioned market researcher Beyondata to survey 40,000 people aged 14 and over. The current results are based on the evaluation of the period from July to September.