Spending by German consumers on the Internet at Christmas is declining.
Total sales from orders for goods from the beginning of October to the end of November fell by -7.7 percent across all industries compared to the previous year, the Federal Association of E-Commerce and Mail Order (BEVH) announced on Thursday. This could not have a significant impact on the “Black Week” that took place at the end of November.
Although consumer spending for the festive season is not as bad as could be expected given the course of the year so far, sales fell by -12.5 percent from January to the Cyber Weekend from November 24th to 27th. This suggests that overall sales performance for the year could be worse than last year.
The consumer mood in the Christmas business has returned, explained the deputy general manager of the BEVH, but consumers have particularly snapped up heavily discounted products, which means that even high order numbers do not ultimately lead to real growth.
However, there is a small ray of hope for clothing retailers, as in the clothing and shoes segment the decline in sales was only single-digit at -4.1 percent compared to the previous quarters. The BEVH also drew a positive conclusion for marketplaces, because people “found what they were looking for” during Black Week. Their sales from the beginning of October to Cyber Monday were almost at the same level as in the same period last year, with a decline of -1.7 percent , which also included an additional day of sales.
A less negative development can also be seen among direct-to-consumer and multichannel retailers, which only recorded a decline of -4.1 percent and -12.0 percent respectively at the end of the year.