According to an international survey by RetailMeNot, online business is part and parcel of life in Germany. When it comes to the share accounted for by e-commerce in the retail business as a whole, Germany is now in second place, after the UK, and above the European average.
Online business booming in Germany
German e-commerce can look back over a successful year: Approximately 44 million Germans decided to make purchases online in 2015 – that’s more than every second German citizen (52 percent). Online turnover rose 23.1 percent in 2015 compared to the previous year, to a total of 52.8 billion euros. And the current year is looking very bright for German e-commerce as well: For 2016, experts expect total takings of 62.5 billion euros, corresponding to an increase of approximately 10 billion euros or 18.3 percent.
At the end of the day, last year e-commerce accounted for nearly twelve percent (11.6 percent) of the entire German retail volume – this means that in 2015, roughly every ninth euro was generated online, this year it is expected to be every eighth (13.5 percent) and in 2017 every seventh already (15.2 percent).
In an international comparison, with growth of approximately 23 percent, German e-commerce experienced the largest growth in turnover in the markets which were surveyed (EU average: 18.6 percent). It is generally expected that in 2016 German retail will generate a slight increase in turnover of 1.7 percent, with a slight decrease in turnover generated in brick and mortar retail (-1.7%).
The connected store as a solution
The survey once more highlights the situation currently being faced by brick and mortar retail in Germany. E-commerce is gaining more and more importance and is making it increasingly difficult for specialist retailers to hold their own. Brick and mortar retail has to find a suitable solution if a mass closure of shops in the high street is to be avoided. This is what we can offer specialist retailers with our cross channel concept of the connected store.
Our brodos.net Kiosk in store offers a huge selection of more than 250,000 products from which customers can make their selection and place an order. This ensures that the product range is also visible and available at the PoS, at reasonable prices comparable to those online.
Caption: Thanks to the Kiosk, more than 250,000 products are available in store.
Customers who would like to shop on Sundays or public holidays or can’t be bothered with the hassle of shopping in town can get exactly what they want quite straightforwardly from their retailer’s brodos.net online shop. The online shop makes it possible to shop around the clock from the convenience of the customer’s own home. The entire product range of the retailer is available there, just the same as on the brodos.net kiosk. This ensures that customers have the same shopping experience across all channels, and can even pay quickly and easily using a credit card or by PayPal.
Caption: With the online shop, customers can shop from the convenience of their own home.
StoreShip – prices like on the the internet
Price comparisons like those which can be made online are unnecessary with our concept, as with StoreShip we have found the suitable solution for specialist retailers. Our tool makes it possible for brick and mortar retail to find the best purchase price. The StoreShip price analyses pricing trends for all products listed in the Brodos.net product catalogue. The calculated StoreShip prices are only displayed if the retail price is competitive with the online price.
This leads to a fair end customer price, which benefits both sides, as the customer gets the product for a reasonable price, whilst retailers can balance out the advantages of the internet, becoming a local hero in their region. Any retailers interested in the concept can have a look anytime at our website www.brodos.com.
Caption: StoreShip calculates the cheapest price from the internet and displays this price in store.
