Online retail with a good Q1 - watches and jewellery perform below average

Online retail with a good Q1 - watches and jewellery perform below average

The recovery in German online retail continued to strengthen in the first months of the year. Total revenue from online sales of goods in the first quarter (not adjusted for inflation) rose by 3.2 percent year-on-year to €19.7 billion.

This means that e-commerce has grown faster than inflation for the first time since mid-2022. After the rollercoaster ride of recent years – the peak during the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent downturn with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine – sales are currently 17.5 percent higher than the comparable figure for 2019.

These figures were announced by the German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Association (bevh). Online trade in watches and jewelry In the first quarter of 2025, sales increased by only 0.5 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. This corresponds to sales of €224 million compared to €223 million last year.

"Germans have set aside a lot of money – it is now the task of the new government to maintain purchasing power despite the trade wars. Above all, however, companies must not be burdened even further. Measures against global technology companies will increase the cost of the digital infrastructure on which many small and medium-sized retail companies depend today," Groß-Albenhausen continued.

Pure online shops and multi-channel retailers are falling behind

Online retailers are benefiting from the increased demand in very different ways. Online marketplaces once again saw strong growth (+5.1% yoy), surpassed only by D2C brands (+6.7% yoy), which are breaking the negative trend after a mixed previous year (-2.3% yoy).

It should be noted, however, that many brand manufacturers also sell through marketplaces, which is why these sales are shifting to the latter. Traditional online shops grew by 1.2 percent, below average. Multichannel retailers generated 0.4 percent less sales through their online shops than in the same quarter last year.