Online commerce continues to grow

Web Expert: online trading 2012 grown at the expense of the stationary retail trade

The booming online trade leaves the sales figures in stationary retail continue to decline. This is the conclusion the eWeb Research Center Niederrhein University comes in its latest projection of the trade turnover in 2012. Prof. Dr. Gerrit Heinemann has compared the sales of offline and online commerce and draws the conclusion: "The online trading undermines the stationary retailers increasingly from the water."

While the trade association of Germany (HDE) reported total retail sales increased by 1,5 2 to percent. But this is based next to the growth in the online sector mainly due to the rise in food prices 3,3 percent. Excluding the food out of the non-food trade 2012 should have possibly turned around 211 billion a pay freeze, so Heinemann.

According to estimates by the Mönchengladbach professor for management and trade, online trade for non-food products increased by 21 percent or around 4,4 billion euros to around 25,4 billion euros in the same period. “For stationary non-food retail without online, this means a nominal decline of 2,6 percent to 185,4 billion euros. With a price increase rate of around 1,8 percent, this nominal decrease corresponds to a real loss in sales of at least four percent, which is even more pronounced depending on the product group, ”says Heinemann.

The development in the various retail sectors varied over the past year. Measured in terms of industry turnover, media / sound carriers were at the top in 2012 with an online share of over 20 percent. Books even achieved an online share of almost 2 percent in trade between companies and end consumers (B40C sales), of which Amazon is likely to account for three quarters of the online market. In digital form, around 200 million euros have been converted with e-books, so that these should already make up a five percent share. In addition to media / sound carriers, computers and computer accessories have also cracked the 20 percent online share.

The next product group, electronics and electrical goods, has around 16 percent, followed by textiles / clothing / shoes with around 14 percent. There is still a lot of catching up to do with do-it-yourself products / gardening / home improvement, with only 2,5 percent online. "In these product groups, brick-and-mortar retailers in particular have difficulties with the topic of the Internet, although some successful examples show that bulky and large-volume items are particularly suitable for online use," says Heinemann.

Source: Mönchengladbach [HS Niederrhein]