One would think that there would have been an increase in online sales activities among German textile, shoe and leather goods stores due to the pandemic, but a recent BTE survey from January refutes this: According to the results, a majority rejects and wants their own web shop concentrate solely on stationary sales.
While the proportion of survey participants with their own web shop before 2022 was 35 percent, only 5 percent set it up last year. Another five percent are currently planning a web shop, but a majority of 56 percent reject it.
This is not offset by sales via online platforms; A large proportion of those surveyed, at 46 percent, also rejected this. While almost half (49 percent) of the retailers surveyed sold via online platforms before 2022, only 1 percent did so last year; 4 percent want to set up this sales channel “soon”.
Similarly, when it comes to selling through social media channels, around a third (31%) were active before 2022, while 1% started last year. This is planned for 14 percent of the survey participants; However, 54 percent have no corresponding plans.
The German retailers are not online grouches, but shy away from the costs associated with online sales: almost three quarters of the survey participants stated that their own web shop was not worthwhile for them from a business point of view (full cost accounting); more than half reported this for platform sales and social media. “Across all online channels, almost 60 percent of the participants are in the red with their online sales,” summarizes the BTE.
Only a fifth of those surveyed describe their own online activities as “clearly worthwhile from a business point of view”, with sales via social media doing slightly better. Another fifth achieve at least a contribution margin, although there are major differences between the individual sales channels.
When it comes to sales, online activities cannot keep up with brick-and-mortar retail either: almost half of the fashion retailers surveyed remained at a share of less than 5 percent of total sales, for 27 percent it is between 5 and 10 percent, and for 9 percent between 10 and 20 percent and at 7 percent between 20 and 30 percent. At only 9 percent, it is over 30 percent.
The representatives of German retail companies were surveyed in January 2023 “in a representative number and size structure”, according to the BTE.