Online Shopping In Germany Up 7% In 2005
Online shoppers in Germany rose by 7% in 2005, reaching 26.9 million, with increasing amounts of consumers using the internet to research purchases.
Research online was found particularly popular when looking at cars, domestic appliances, consumer electronics, mobile contracts and furniture. Indeed GfK revealed that over the past five years, 19.1 million Germans have used the internet to research these types of products.
Earlier this year, eMarketer predicted that German shoppers would spend over $108 billion in 2008, signalling the country’s importance in the growth of the internet’s infrastructure and economy (see Germany Largest e-Commerce Country In Europe).
The analysts recent Germany Online report stated that one of the main reasons for the good performance of the internet in Germany is demographics. eMarketer claims that, over 83% of 14-29 year old Germans use the internet. More than half of those 59 and younger are online, while just 20% of those 60 and older are offline.
According to research from Datamonitor, consumer broadband adoption is increasing at its fastest rate across most of Europe, with penetration expected to settle at around 60% in terms of household penetration in advanced markets (see Europe Sees Surge In Broadband Adoption).
