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In 2025, around **** percent of 25- to 45-year-olds in Germany had ordered and purchased products online in the past three months. They were also the largest age group of online consumers. 65- to 75-year-olds were the group that shopped online the least, with only **** percent participating in online shopping.

Where are people shopping online?

Some of the most visited fashion websites in Germany included zalando.de, hm.com, and vinted.de. Zalando is especially popular because it sells items from multiple different brands, allowing the consumer to find all different types of clothes, shoes, accessories, and more in one place. Another advantage of shopping online is that consumers are not just limited to shopping in the country in which they live. Products can be ordered from almost anywhere in the world (if, of course, consumers are willing to pay a little extra). If a better deal is available elsewhere or a product is not available anywhere in the home country, then this can be a good reason to make a purchase on a foreign website.

Challenges of online shopping

Online shopping, however, is not without its challenges. Retailers themselves continued to be worried about challenges facing e-commerce. These included customer reluctance to buy due to higher prices, as well as competitive pressure from other businesses and supply bottlenecks. Most customers preferred to return products they did not want to keep via an online self-service, which means declaring a return online and then dropping off the package, e.g. at the post, a return point located in another establishment or a package pick-up station. While the return option is an integral part of online shopping, it brings with it a multitude of issues. These include putting a significant strain on the environment, transportation and logistics, as well as staff involved.