The Ukraine war slows down the growth of online trade in Germany. “After two record years in 2020 and 2021, sales growth in online retail will probably reach its limits this year in view of the poor consumer sentiment due to the Russian war in Ukraine,” forecast the German Retail Association (HDE) on Wednesday. The association lowered its sales forecast for e-commerce in the current year by around 1 billion to 97.4 billion euros.
According to Stephan Tromp, deputy HDE managing director, online trade achieved enormous sales growth in 2020 and 2021, also due to the corona-related lockdown and access restrictions in stationary retail. Growth in online retail is expected to be significantly weaker than in the past two years. Nevertheless, online trade remains the growth driver for the entire retail trade.
The HDE is now assuming online sales growth for the current year of 12.4 percent to 97.4 billion euros. So far, the trade association had forecast an increase of 13.4 percent. For comparison: In 2020 and 2021, online trade was able to grow by 23 and 19 percent, respectively.
“Especially in the areas of fashion as well as consumer electronics and electronics, sales increased enormously in the past year”, reports Tromp. According to HDE, the fashion sector recorded an increase of 3.2 billion euros compared to the previous year, in consumer electronics and electronics sales increased by 2, 9 billion euros.
The online share grew fastest in the areas of living and furnishing (by almost 30 percent) and in food and cosmetics (by 30 percent). More than half of online sales were already processed via smartphone in 2021. (dpa)