German eCommerce Sales Buck Christmas Trend, Shrink 16.8%

German eCommerce sales have seen a double-digit decline in the lead-up to Christmas.

The numbers, reported by the German Federal Association for eCommerce (bevh), reveal that online sales between Oct. 1 and Nov. 30 — including Black Friday — were 16.8% lower than in the same period last year, a first since measurements began in 2014.

The worst affected consumer categories were clothing, where online sales were down 28.1%, and entertainment, which saw a 19.5% decline in turnover.

But across the board, the picture remains grim for online retailers. In fact, the only product categories in which the association didn’t report a decline in online sales were household goods and appliances, pet supplies and medication.

As well as differences in the types of goods being ordered, German online spending patterns point to the diverging fortunes of marketplaces compared to online stores that operate their own website and own their inventory.

While marketplace sales only decreased by 9.4%, brand-owned direct-to-consumer stores saw a fall in sales of 23.4%, while multichannel retailers were worst-off, experiencing a significant 29.5% decline in online turnover.

Alongside collating sales data, the eCommerce association also surveyed its members — between them they account for around 90% of all online sales in Germany — about their current business situation.

The results showed that among retailers surveyed, 34.8% expected “lower sales” and 17.4% said they expect “significantly lower sales” in 2022 compared to the previous year.

When asked about the biggest burdens facing their business, eCommerce merchants cited consumer uncertainty as the biggest challenge they face, followed by increased procurement costs, and increased packaging and logistics costs.

Germany’s Macroeconomic Grinch

While the eCommerce picture isn’t pretty, Germany’s physical retail stores aren’t faring much better.

As PYMNTS has reported, the department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof filed for insolvency protection in November, citing weak consumer sentiment, and announced plans to close more than 40 of its 131 locations.

See more: Weak Consumer Demand Fuels Retail Closures Across Europe

Meanwhile, the latest retail sales statistics from Germany’s Federal Statistics Bureau show that overall retail turnover declined 2.8% in October compared to the previous month and is down 6.2% since March.

While bevh’s recently reported numbers mark the first year-on-year decline in Germany’s online Christmas sales since the organization started measuring them, eCommerce merchants are caught up in broader macroeconomic headwinds affecting many retailers as the general sales data reveals.

As Martin Gross-Albenhausen, deputy general manager at bevh, noted in the report, another factor impacting the sector is the above-average online sales reported last year as Germans turned away from physical stores during the pandemic.

“The industry can do little to counteract the double burden of the previous year’s sales, which were particularly strong due to the corona lockdown, and the general slump in consumption,” he said.

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