Amazon conquers almost half of German e-commerce

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Prezent
May 17, 2018June 8, 2018

Amazon dominates the e-commerce industry in Germany. Thus, as a retailer, if you decide to sell your products on Amazon, chances are good that you are off to a very good start. The German subsidiary of Amazon is dominating the online shopping world.

A great 2017

The unhindered growth of Amazon continued throughout 2017 and does not seem to come to a halt in 2018 either. The revenue of the biggest retail business in the world grew over 10% over the last year to a staggering 48.9 billion Euro. In 2018, the growth is expected to continue its up rise by another 9.7%.

The unstoppable growth of Amazon?

Amazon has managed to establish itself as one of the big global players worldwide. However, did you know that nearly 50% (46% by the end of the year) of e-commerce in Germany is dominated by the giant from Seattle? Only in the last year, Amazon grew to 4.7 billion in Germany alone. Out of this number, 3.2 billion are from Amazon itself, the remaining 1.5 billion are derived from sellers on the Marketplace platform.

Source: https://www.emerce.nl/nieuws/amazon-goed-helft-alle-duitse-ecommerce

Amazon’s seller platform

Amazon Marketplace is a platform offered by Amazon, where retailers and sellers can offer their products. The big advantage to this service is that you have a chance to use the biggest online shop there is. Without having to build up an audience and spend time and money on extensive ad and branding campaigns.

However, this means that 68% of the e-commerce revenue in Germany is generated by an American company. This might trigger some controversy, but, up to now, it does not seem like there is going to be much of a change in the near future.

From its initial debut in Germany back in 1998, Amazon has steadily conquered the e-commerce stage for the German market. Starting from selling books and CDs, it slowly started selling anything you might be looking for. And with the recent purchase of Whole Foods, it also started offering foods and groceries. Moreover, Amazon is also becoming a serious competitor for platforms like Netflix thanks to its Amazon Prime Video service.

Hard times for offline shops

Figures from the “Handelsverband Deutschland” show that, in general, physical stores are facing a tough time in Germany, and not only there. Studies have shown that at least 65% of the German population shops regularly online. The most shopped categories are fashion, electronics, DIY and household goods, as the following chart from emerce.nl shows:

Source: https://www.emerce.nl/nieuws/amazon-goed-helft-alle-duitse-ecommerce

Particularly Southern Germans seem to prefer buying comfortably from their own couch. And more and more Germans grab their smartphone to shop. Some studies foresee that within the coming four to five years, mobiles will be the most used device for “going shopping”. The current situation with its 42% on mobile is already giving a glimpse into the future.

Looking towards the future

Interesting times lay ahead of us, indeed. For most of us, it will be an interesting to follow how far Amazon will be growing and what will be their next strategy. No doubt, that the future beholds some interesting times ahead for retailers, not only in Germany. So, in the words of Steve jobs: “Stay hungry, stay foolish”.