Dominik Brokelmann, CEO

As current figures from the trade associations show, e-commerce is booming, a trend which is set to increase even further over the next few years, predominantly due to the increasing importance of mobile commerce. For the retail sector, this means it is time to take action rather than shutting their eyes to reality.

Sales figures for online trade published by the trade associations and market researchers show that e-commerce is growing consistently and rapidly worldwide. The diagram below shows the trend followed by sales figures for online trade in Germany, based on the figures of the last ten years which are regularly published by the HDE (German Retail Federation). As you can see, the speed of growth of e-commerce has even accelerated in the last four years. The main reason for this, in my opinion, is the increasing share of mobile commerce in e-commerce, a major factor for which is the sharp rise in smartphone penetration since 2012. I also believe that growth in the the e-commerce sector will remain at a very high level in the future. This is due to the sharply growing market shares of smartphones and tablet PC’s, as well as the increasing prevalence and improved usability of shopping apps on these mobile devices.

Now and again news reports are circulated claiming that online growth is slowing down. A little later the next expert claims that another survey has shown that the very opposite is in fact the case and that online business is set to continue to grow rapidly. Don’t let yourself be misled, the future belongs to e-commerce and there is only one direction the curve is set to go: up. Don’t believe anyone who tells you anything else and be prepared, before it is too late. Depending on whether your major focus is on online trade or traditional retail trade, this will either be good news - or not.
 
For those of you who are purely online retailers, I would urge you not to celebrate too soon. If you do not offer anything which clearly differentiates you from your competition it will be anything but an easy ride. We will see that competition on the internet will continue to increase, precisely because e-commerce is developing the way it is, and brick and mortar retailers will become increasingly involved. If you are a so-called internet pure player without any special identity or a competitive edge, for example a special service recognised in the market, particular customer loyalty or products distributed exclusively by you, then you too will soon be facing hard times.