The total sales in German online trade rose by 3.5 % to EUR 39.84 billion in the first six months of 2025. With an increase of 3.8 %, the second quarter in particular showed an acceleration of growth compared to the previous year. Digital services such as travel bookings or ticket purchases even increased by 4.4 % to EUR 3.9 billion. “The shopping mood of the Germans is slowly but steadily back. This particularly benefits online trade, which best achieves people through social media, apps and AI in everyday digital life,” explains Martin Groß-Albenhausen, deputy BEVH general manager.
AI applications play an increasingly important role in this: 19.3 % of online buyers state that they have already obtained product recommendations for solutions such as chatt. However, there are skepticism: six out of ten respondents would not follow a AI recommendation in any way or very unlikely, without having previously checked alternatives themselves.
In terms of content, the area of clothing (+ 5.2 %), especially shoes (+ 7.6 %) in the second quarter. Home & home textiles rose by 10.5 %. Online pharmacies benefited from the e-recipe with an increase in sales of 7.2 %. On the other hand, declines (- 6.0 %), electronic items & telecommunications (- 3.7 %) as well as books, eBooks and audio books (- 2.2 %) recorded declines (- 6.0 %).
Online marketplaces grew by 5.9 %, manufacturers (D2C) increased their sales by 5.6 %, while retailers achieved an increase of 2.7 %with their own online shops. The online channels of the multichannel retailers, on the other hand, suffered a minus of 2.8 %. “After five growth quarters in a row, we can say: E-commerce has returned to growth. However, the competition has become tougher. Customers are still praised and willing to give priority from third countries,” said Groß-Albenhausen.
Asian platforms such as Temu, Shein and Aliexpress have a large part in growth. Their order share rose from 5.5 % to 6.4 % in the second quarter. In the fashion segment, 14.1 % of all orders went to these providers, even over 28 % for fashion jewelry. Overall, their turnover grew by more than 37 % in the second quarter to almost 1 billion euros, which is around a third of the entire e-commerce growth.
