First half of the year in online retail: Germans’ willingness to spend is returning

German consumer confidence has improved noticeably at the mid-year point. Total turnover grew by 5.1 per cent in the second quarter, continuing the moderate recovery in the market. Over the first half of the year as a whole, online retail turnover rose by 4.3 per cent. “E-commerce has become the mainstay of the German retail sector in this extremely weak consumer environment,” comments Martin Gross-Albenhausen, deputy secretary general of the e-commerce association bevh. “Whether pure online or multichannel retailers or sellers on marketplaces: all were able to benefit from this growth in the second quarter. However, a closer look reveals that platforms – and in particular providers from the Asian region – are capturing an ever-increasing share of the market.”

Daily essentials are shifting to online retail
The strongest growth drivers across sectors were suppliers of everyday essentials (+10.1 per cent), particularly chemists (+11.7 per cent), as well as seasonal product categories such as DIY and flowers (10.9 per cent), hobby and leisure items (7.5 per cent) and car and motorbike accessories (+7.6 per cent). Mail-order pharmacies recorded the strongest sales growth for medicines since the introduction of e-prescriptions (+13.9 per cent). Significant momentum came from the particularly important fashion sector, which saw its online sales growth rise to 4.4 per cent, up from 3.6 per cent in the first quarter. By contrast, the entertainment and home furnishings clusters lagged far behind the market (2.7 per cent each) – furniture, lamps and decorations in particular (-2.1 per cent) remained in warehouses. Thanks to a stronger first quarter, this product category is still showing a slight nominal increase (i.e. not adjusted for inflation) at the half-year mark.

Online marketplaces (+6.4 per cent), which generated turnover of €11.5 billion by mid-year, and direct-to-consumer manufacturers (6.3 per cent) once again benefited from the positive consumer sentiment. Traditional online shops (+3.8 per cent) and multichannel retailers with roots in brick-and-mortar retail (+2.5 per cent) continued to grow, but are still lagging behind market trends.

Asian platforms: orders reach a new record high

The share of orders accounted for by the largest Asian platforms within the overall e-commerce sector continues to grow, standing at 5.3 per cent by mid-year. This means that one in every 20 euros of turnover in online retail is already attributable to Temu, Shein, AliExpress or other providers from Asia. This growing dominance is particularly noticeable in the online fashion sector, where Asian platforms now account for more than 16 per cent of all orders. At over 20 per cent, the revenue growth of Asian providers far exceeds market growth.

Meanwhile, the bevh expects the new flat-rate customs duty of 3 euros – which will be levied from 1 July on each distinct product group (customs tariff heading) in consignments worth less than 150 euros sent from third countries to end consumers – to have little impact. “The levy will have little impact on cheap imports from Asia. Suppliers have already begun to establish their own logistics structures within Europe. This means that goods no longer reach us in a haphazard manner in individual parcels that are almost impossible to monitor, but are instead shipped in containers and then distributed within Europe,” states Alien Mulyk, the bevh’s new Chief Executive since 1 July.

AI is increasingly preparing purchases – the act of buying itself retains a “human touch”

AI applications were used by almost 6 per cent of online shoppers when searching for information prior to a purchase. Among the younger age groups of 14 to 29 and 30 to 39, more than one in ten shoppers had already used ChatGPT, Gemini or similar tools for assistance. In a special survey of 2,500 online customers in the second quarter, almost one in three (31.2 per cent) stated that they had asked chatbots for product recommendations at least once. Just over half had not yet had any experience with them. However, only 12.7 per cent agreed ‘completely’ or ‘largely’ with the statement that they would follow a product recommendation from a bot directly, without conducting any further product searches. For more than two-thirds of those surveyed (68.6 per cent), granting an AI agent access to payment details is currently completely unthinkable. Only a minority of 9 per cent would currently be prepared to allow AI agents to make purchases autonomously.

E-commerce revenue trends for goods by cluster and segment
(all figures in million euros, including VAT)

Revenue trends for goods by type of business 
(all figures in millions of euros, including VAT)

(MCV: Multichannel-Retailer, IPP: Internet- Pure-Player, APV: Online-Pharmacy, SHC: Shoppingclub, OMP: Online marketplace, HEV: manufacturer D2C, TVS: Teleshopping)

About the study

In the weekly consumer survey ‘Interactive Retail in Germany’, a total of 40,000 private individuals from Germany aged 14 and over are surveyed from January to December on their spending behaviour in online and mail-order retail and on their use of digital services (e.g. travel or ticketing). The final results of the study are published at the start of each year. The figures presented today are based on an analysis of the period from 1 April to 30 June 2026. The study is conducted by BEYONDATA GmbH.