According to the Federal Association of E-Commerce and Mail Order Germany eV, the Christmas business for online retail was disappointing. Online sales of goods to end customers fell by 4.2% in the middle of the Christmas business, including the Black Friday discount campaigns. This is based on current BEVH surveys compared to the previous year. With customers generally inclined to save, there is less money left for retailers. Rather, they resort to cheap offers. According to BEVH, the poor Christmas business is spoiling the industry’s hopes of ending this year on a positive note. After eleven months, there is now an accumulated minus of 1.2% compared to the same period in 2023.
“Since October there has been increasing news of massive job cuts in the economy, especially in the important automotive sector,” explains Martin Groß-Albenhausen, deputy general manager of the BEVH. “The breakup of the traffic light coalition and the uncertainty as to how the policies of the new US government will affect Germany are not allowing the population to have an untroubled Christmas spirit. As a result, many gifts are only purchased at a subsidized price. Here, e-commerce confirms the statements of the consumer barometers and the trend in the entire retail sector.”
The clothing cluster recorded a minus of -8.2% in the two measured months of October and November. Sales here fell from 3.63 to 3.33 billion euros. In the shoes sector, online sales fell from 741 to 695 million euros, or -6.2%.
