Online sales of goods in Germany grew solidly by 3.2% in the first quarter of this year despite the country’s stagnant economy, driven by rising purchases of fashion, shoes, electronics, food and health products.
This is a slight acceleration from the low growth of 1.1% to €80.6 billion in 2024 which represented a recovery from the post-pandemic decline in 2023, according to figures from the German e-commerce association Bevh based on a continuous weekly consumer survey.
Hopeful trend
"The upward trend gives hope, even if consumers were unsettled by global political events in the short term," commented Martin Groß-Albenhausen, Deputy Managing Director of bevh. "The Germans have put a lot of money aside – it will now be the task of the new government to maintain purchasing power despite the trade wars.”
Overall, online sales of physical goods increased by 3.2% year-on-year to €19.7 billion from January to March 2025, thus slightly outpacing inflation for the first time since mid-2022. After the “rollercoaster ride of recent years” with the pandemic peaks and subsequent slump after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, sales are currently 17.5% above the comparable value of 2019 again, bevh noted.
Sales growth in many sectors
