Although Germany withdrew its restrictive shop opening hour laws many years ago, 24-hour shopping is still not possible. Even in Germany's largest cities, shops close their doors by latest 10 p.m., with most shops closing at 8 p.m. This is an anachronism in a world in which the patterns of people's days have changed as the boundaries between professional and private lives have become increasingly blurred.
While politicians ponder on how to liberalise shop opening hours, German consumers have switched to another shopping opportunity which really is open 24 hours a day: the internet! More than 34 million customers, 2.2 million more than in the previous year, purchased goods or services on the internet in 2009, reports the "Online Shopping Survey (OSS 2010)". 15.2 million booked travel services online. Around 8 million online buyers used the web to buy products from private sellers. The growing popularity of the internet as a shopping choice is also pushing up turnover. Expenditure on e-commerce rose in Germany in 2009 by 14 % to Euro 15.5 billion.
Internet non-food sales channel grew faster in 2009 than stationary retailThe internet has consolidated its position not only as a popular marketplace, but also as a sales channel, and boasts the highest growth rate in Germany. In contrast to the trend for non-food products, turnover was substantially up in 2009, while the retail trade basically stagnated.
Having said that, the impact of the recession has not left the digital shopping trade untouched. It is, however, only marked by a temporary dip on its growth curve, still achieving a figure of +19 % in 2008. Against the backdrop of a serious economic crisis, this remains an excellent result, especially as the average spend per online buyer was up 10 % at Euro 506. The frequency of online shopping remained stabile at 9.4 online purchases.
Individual retail sectors experienced different development trends. Furniture, DIY articles, toys, books, household goods and other "hardware products" grew by almost 12 % in 2009. Turnover for technical products was also up by 12 %.
High growth rates for online fashion salesSelecting and buying clothing on a computer screen has also gained in popularity. It appears that the inability to feel and touch during online sales is compensated by the huge selection available, the simplicity of ordering and – when available – individual telephone advice by online sales personnel. This is the only way of explaining the above average gain of 24.5 % in online fashion sales turnover. This is the conclusion of the Webscope Panel of GfK Panel Services, Germany, which has been continuously measuring the sale of goods on the internet since 2001. Data is drawn from a representative random sample of 10,000 German internet users aged 14 and over.
However, what the disproportionate growth of online sales of fashion articles does not yet mean is the imminent demise of the stationary retail trade. Every second person interested in fashion still purchases goods in fashion outlets. But it has become common practice to first collect information on the internet before buying. This is true of 63 % of those asked, who visit on average 3 – 4 websites of fashion producers. 18 % of those asked said they bought fashion articles on the web, 15 % are "multi-channel buyers", sometimes buying online, sometimes offline. It is predominantly women aged between 18 and 29 who undertake above average online research before making their fashion purchases. But: 36 % of persons interested in fashion still do not use the internet at all throughout the entire buying process.
This is confirmed by a continuous survey organised between September and November 2009 as part of the GfK Universal Panel / Non-Food.
E-commerce, increasingly popular amongst older age groupsOnline shopping is now a long established consumer habit. Not only amongst younger persons, but also in particular amongst older people. They now use the internet much more as a matter of course: over the last 5 years the share of 50-69 year olds of all online purchases rose by 88 %. 60 % of this group went online in the last 12 months. 40 % purchased goods and services online during the same period. Reflecting the fact that younger consumer groups already use the internet to a very large extent, it is older persons who are expected to drive growth in e-commerce in the future.
Author: Michael Spielmann,
Market analyst and strategic media planner, G+J International Media Sales
Hamburg, May 2010
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