German e-commerce market continues to grow, with Amazon ranking first in sales

The German e-commerce market continues to develop, as shown by a recent study by EHI and the E-Commerce Database on the "German E-Commerce Market in 2022".

Compared to the previous year, the total sales of the top 1,000 online stores in Germany increased by an average of 16.1% to 79.9 billion euros in 2021. 70% of the sales were generated by the top 100 online store platforms, and the top ten sales accounted for 41.1% of the total net sales of the top 1,000 online stores.

Amazon.de is the online store with the highest e-commerce turnover in Germany in 2021, with total sales of 15.68 billion euros, accounting for almost one-fifth of the turnover of the top 1,000 online stores . The second place is Otto.de, with a turnover of 5.12 billion euros. The third place is occupied by Mediamarkt.de , with a turnover of 2.54 billion euros .

In terms of growth rate, Amazon.de's sales growth rate in 2021 was higher than in previous years, at 13.8%, an increase of 1.9 billion euros, showing the largest absolute growth rate to date. Although it is lower than the average growth rate of 16.1% of the top 1,000, in terms of scale, Amazon.de's growth shows the strong momentum of the German e-commerce market.

Among the top 10 German online stores , the strongest growth was seen at Ikea.com, with the Swedish furniture chain increasing its e-commerce sales in Germany by 102.9% in 2021. This was followed by Apple.com, which grew by 71.9%, and Docmorris.de, which ranked third with a growth of 60.5%.

The rapid growth in sales of German e-commerce platforms benefits from the huge retail market. Data shows that in 2021, the total trade volume of the top 10 German platforms was 75.3 billion euros. Of course, Amazon still ranks first with 46.2 billion euros, eBay ranks second with 10.5 billion euros, and otto.de ranks third with 7 billion euros, which is the same ranking as in 2020.

In addition, among the top 1,000 online stores, 43.6% of sellers have stores on Amazon, 35.1% of sellers have stores on eBay, and 13.6% of sellers have stores on Kaufland, which together promote the growth of Germany's online market in 2021.

The huge trade volume is inseparable from the support of the logistics system. Among the top 1,000 online stores, more than three-quarters use Deutsche Post DHL as a logistics service provider, which means that it remains the leader in German freight.

Of the 1,000 online stores, 544 have physical stores, and 236 (23.6%) offer self-service pickup. However, self-service pickup is not always available in stores, and some retailers have set up pickup stations, which provide customers with another option.

The fact that online shopping has gained a lot of popularity since the pandemic is no longer news. However, this development is particularly evident among Generation Z (people aged 18 to 24). German Generation Z prefers to shop online rather than in physical stores, with around 37% of German Generation Z now mainly shopping online. Now, this preference is growing further.

Amazon Europe

Germany