Following a weaker first half of the year due to growing fears of recession, total e-commerce revenues from goods fell by a further 10.8 percent year-on-year in nominal terms (i.e., not adjusted for inflation) from the beginning of July to the end of September to EUR 19.8 billion (butto). Nevertheless, there is no sign of a reversion to pre-pandemic levels: accumulated sales for the first three quarters of this year are 4.4 percent below the same period last year, but 15.0 percent above the same period in 2020 and still 27.2 percent above the same period in 2019.
Link: Accumulated sales from January to September inclusive
Link: Detailed sales for all commodity groups and shipper types
“E-commerce cannot decouple itself from consumer sentiment. Even in product groups that still show a slight increase, this results at best from the general price increase. However, this is not a structural problem of the “Internet” sales channel. The industry is still 16 percent up in Q3 compared to the last pre-Corona year of 2019, despite the current crisis in the retail sector as a whole,” explains Martin Groß-Albenhausen, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of bevh.
Asked directly about their spending expectations, an average of 30.1 percent of customers in Q3 said they planned to “spend less money on goods in online retail” compared with the respective previous month. This compares to 26.6 percent of customers in Q2 2022 and only 18.4 percent in Q1 2022.
Food and pharma sales most stable
In the consumer crisis, customers are reprioritizing their consumption and putting off non-essential purchases and major cost items: In comparison, the “DIY & Flowers” segment has been hit hardest, with a 26.3 percent drop in sales, followed by the “Cars & Motorcycles” segment (- 24.3 percent) and “Shoes” (- 22.3 percent). The “Jewelry & Watches” and “Furniture, Lamps & Decoration” segments were also conspicuous, with declines of 21.7 and 15.6 percent respectively. At the “positive” end of the spectrum are pharmaceuticals (+ 4.7 percent) and food and office supplies, each with a non-inflation-adjusted sales increase of 3.0 percent (detailed results in the sales table).
Corona relaxations barely noticeable in travel and event bookings
Signs that consumers may have shifted their spending from goods orders to experiences and travel after Corona restrictions were eased are weak to nonexistent. Sales of digital services, which include ticketing for events as well as flight and travel bookings, were 28.7 percent higher than in the same period of the previous year. However, this is a catch-up effect after the enormous slump during the Corona peak. Actually, a much stronger increase could have been expected. However, a conspicuous increase in willingness to spend cannot currently be observed: Sales of digital services are still 43.1 percent below the Q3 level of 2019. This means that spending patterns are not even close to their usual pre-pandemic levels.
Retailers affected very differently
The poor consumer mood is putting very different pressure on retailers’ sales. With sales down 21.5 percent on the prior-year quarter, multichannel retailers were once again hit hardest. Online marketplaces (- 9.2 percent) and online pure players (- 9.1 percent) saw a much smaller decline. Digital direct sales by manufacturers were the most stable (- 2.5 percent). For particularly radiant brands, maintaining a direct and closer relationship with their customers could pay off in the consumer crisis.
About the study
In the consumer survey “Interactive Commerce in Germany,” 40,000 private individuals from Germany aged 14 and over are surveyed from January to December on their spending behavior in online and mail-order retail and on their consumption of digital services (e.g., travel or ticketing). The final results of the study are published at the beginning of each year. The figures presented today are based on the evaluation of the period from July 1 to September 30. The study is carried out by BEYONDATA GmbH.
