Online trade in Germany: E-commerce compass provides deep insights

E-commerce has long held an important position in German retail. Reliable data on online trading is all the more important. How do web shops work in this country? What makes you successful? What trends are emerging? The new one answers these and other questions Ecommerce compass by Strato – based on a survey of online shop operators.

Important developments in German online retail

Good market opportunities and low entry barriers Promote the creation of online shops: The most common reason for opening an online shop is the opportunity to reach more potential customers online (46 percent). The fact that it has now become much easier to open an online shop also motivates many retailers to take this step (30 percent).

The sales significance of online shops is high, the trend towards multichannel sales will continue to grow: for 40 percent of those surveyed, their own online shop is the number one source of revenue. Most retailers expect that this will remain the case in the future, but that other sales channels such as digital marketplaces, social networks or messengers will also gain in importance.

The corona pandemic has boosted online trade: 39 percent of online retailers were able to increase their sales during the corona crisis. Almost 60 percent of this group assume that they will continue to generate higher sales even after the pandemic.

Social media marketing is of enormous importance for online shops: The most important marketing channels for web shops are social media. Almost half of the operators have a profile on Facebook or Instagram. TikTok and YouTube also play a major role among the youngest traders.

Moving image trend in e-commerce and increased in-house production of videos: The general trend towards moving images on the Internet is also evident in e-commerce. The vast majority (72 percent) visualize their products in the online shop with photos they have taken themselves; around a quarter of the shop operators (24 percent) already use specially produced videos.

PayPal is by far the most common Offered payment method: When it comes to payment methods, PayPal is the absolute top dog (72 percent). The other digital payment providers more or less end up under “also ran”. In second and third place are the traditionally popular methods in Germany, prepayment (55 percent) and invoice (48 percent).

Cryptocurrencies as a payment method – still in the niche, but a conceivable option for many: Cryptocurrencies are not yet widespread as a payment method in online retail. However, young webshop operators in particular can imagine accepting Bitcoin and Co. in the future.

strato is a webhoster and offers fair and simple hosting – at the best price and without unnecessary frills. The product range extends from domain, mail, website and server to online marketing tools and Germany’s largest cloud storage HiDrive. Strato takes over the web hosting of over four million domains and operates two TÜV-certified data centers with over 70,000 servers in Berlin and Karlsruhe. (sg)

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