Tomahawk Blog

E-commerce in Germany: is the grass greener on the other side?

byClaudio Atzeni

You've probably thought about it, conquering Germany with your webshop. For many entrepreneurs, Germany is the first hurdle in an international rollout. The country - with e-commerce sales of €48.9 billion in 2017 - beckons. Yet far from everyone manages to become successful in Germany.

In this blog post we share German e-commerce statistics and the main differences between the Germanandn Dutch markets. Read the whitepaper Verleg de grenzen van je webshop: hoe behalen je resultaat in Duitsland? to learn all about a successful webshop launch at our eastern neighbors.

Internet usage & speed

Although Internet penetration in the Netherlands is still higher than in Germany (96% versus 91% respectively), Internet use did increase much faster than in the Netherlands over the past six years. While the percentages in terms of Internet usage are getting closer together, the differences in terms of Internet speed are still large. Dutch Internet connections are almost half as fast as those in Germany. Especially in rural areas, internet speed leaves much to be desired. So keep in mind that all those nice bells and whistles that make your website more user-friendly in the Netherlands can make the user experience worse in Germany.

Gigantic potential

Germany is a big country; with 88.2 mln inhabitants, the German e-commerce market is five times bigger than the Dutch one (17.2 mln inhabitants). Although the number of Germans buying online is somewhat lower than here (75% versus 79%) and they spend slightly less (€1,274.00 versus €1,697.04), in absolute terms Germans still make twice as many online purchases as the Dutch. Total e-commerce sales in Germany endorse this picture (€48.9 bln versus €22.51 bln).

The German Internet user

Do you know him: the German? Just as you are not the same as all other Dutch people, not all Germans are the same either. Nevertheless, pigeonholing does make it easier to identify similarities and differences between Dutchandn German Internet users. As expected, we do see differences.

German and Dutch Internet users

In general, you can say that Germany is slightly behind the Netherlands in the online field, but is in the process of catching up. Despite the relative lag, Germany already has a market that is at least twice as large. If the above developments continue, this will result in a growth of the German market. Accordingly, the German Retail Association (HDE) expects to see e-commerce sales of €53.6 bln in Germany in 2018.