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In the Corona crisis, online trading grew faster than usual.
The Federal Association of E-Commerce and Mail Order (BEVH) reports that gross sales increased by almost 15 percent to 83.3 billion euros in 2020.
This means that more than every eighth euro of household expenditure in Germany comes from online trading.
The older generations were the growth drivers: Almost every third online buyer is at least 60 years old according to a current BEVH survey.
By way of comparison: a year earlier, this proportion was only one fifth.
Source: WORLD infographic
The over-60 shoppers, who are also called silver surfers in the industry, are now by far the largest customer group in the mail order business.
BEVH President Gero Furchheim does not only see the desired avoidance of contact in the Corona crisis as the reason for the sudden increase in market share.
"In this age group, dealing with the Internet has long been a matter of course."
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It fits in with the fact that the second largest customer group is now 50 to 59 year olds.
They, too, made far more purchases via e-commerce in 2020.
The market share of this age group increased from 18.2 to 24.7 percent within twelve months.
The younger generations, on the other hand, have seen some drastic declines, as the BEVH consumer study shows.
For 14 to 29 year olds, for example, the proportion has almost halved from 20.4 percent in the previous year to just 12.4 percent now.
"Students were hit hard by the Corona crisis," explains Furchheim.
“Many of them have lost their part-time jobs.
As a result, they can also afford a lot less. "
Furchheim sees the shift as an almost inevitable development.
"The boys were overrepresented in the statistics for a long time because they had no reservations from the start and accordingly tried out e-commerce earlier," says the entrepreneur who, apart from his association activities, runs the designer furniture mail order company Cairo.
The current distribution of purchasing power in Germany is now also shown in online retail.
"The industry has finally arrived in the middle of society."
Source: WORLD infographic
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According to the BEVH, this is also indicated by the development of the individual product groups.
The growth in everyday items, such as groceries, drugstore goods and medicines, was particularly dynamic.
Sales with products from this cluster rose by almost 41 percent to almost seven billion euros in the past year, the statistics show - supermarkets and discounters as well as drugstores and pharmacies, in contrast to most of the rest of the retail sector, were always there during the Corona crisis open.
The already high-volume sectors such as entertainment or clothing, which in 2020 generated gross sales of 29 and 22 billion euros respectively, are also seeing strong growth.
On the other hand, service bookings on the Internet, above all for travel, hotel accommodation, train journeys, rental cars or event tickets, for example for concerts and sporting events or for theaters and cinemas, have lost a lot.
The corresponding income, which is not included in the reported sales of 83.3 billion, has more than halved compared to the previous year, specifically from 19.6 billion euros to just 9.2 billion.
And most of that is from the first quarter.
The BEVH officials believe that this business is likely to pick up again in the coming years.
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But apart from services, too, the industry expects business to continue growing rapidly.
The BEVH predicts that classic e-commerce will exceed the 100 billion euro mark for the first time in 2021.
Especially since, according to the association survey, three out of four online customers want to order more or as many online as they do now.
For comparison: a year ago, only every second buyer had this intention.
Parcel tax also affects domestic retailers
"The trend towards online will not be reversed", says Martin Groß-Albenhausen, the deputy chief executive of the BEVH with a view to an ongoing debate on the subject of shopping in the future.
"What we are experiencing now is the new normal."
The social and political debate must therefore fundamentally change its perspective, demands entrepreneur Furchheim.
“The city centers and the retail trade need this digital foundation in order to offer customers even more value with their stationary offers.
Urban development must finally face this reality and consistently involve those who shape the new trade. "
Recently, politicians had tended to oppose online trading.
The CDU and CSU, for example, have brought a package tax into play and have received some approval from other parties for it.
The stationary trade, however, which is actually supposed to be protected by this levy, positions itself very clearly against this proposal.
“A package tax would also affect many domestic online retailers, who are correct and punctual taxpayers.
In addition, that would be a disservice to the third of stationary retailers who have built up an online pillar, ”says Stefan Genth, the managing director of the German Retail Association (HDE).
“These companies are increasing their online sales significantly and are also using large Internet platforms.
The future of retail lies in the combination of online and stationary on-site. ”Playing off the sales channels against one another does not help.
"There is no bridge back"
Martin Fassnacht, who heads the chair for strategy and marketing at the WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management in Düsseldorf, also provides support.
"Politicians must create framework conditions for the future, not for the past," he said on the short message service Twitter.
A package tax is an absurd idea.
"There is no bridge back."
Small traders are particularly drawn to online marketplaces.
In 2020, half of online sales were made via platforms such as those from Amazon, but also from trading companies such as Real or Conrad Electronic.
“It is not easy for most stationary retailers to generate their own relevance online.
Most of them therefore need the platforms, ”says Furchheim expert.
"This enables even the smallest companies to sell online."
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The acquisition is particularly large in the lockdown.
In the fashion and shoe trade, hundreds of millions of items are left behind due to shop closings.
As seasonal goods, however, these items have an expiry date.
“We are depressed by the inventory.
That is why we have now gone to a number of marketplaces, ”reports Mark Rauschen, managing partner of Lengermann & Trieschmann from Osnabrück.
Around 500,000 articles are currently in their own stores, but the majority are already online.
However, Rauschen reports that one's own online shop is not enough to sell in such dimensions.
“Jogging pants and baggy sweaters are practically sold out.
There is often no reason for greater demand for the other goods.
So we have to expand on the Internet. "