Ingo R. Titze Research & Consulting

Internet used intensively for making buying decisions

Jan 18, 2010: Internet used intensively for making buying decisions

A recent study by market research company TNS revealed that German consumers make intensive use of the internet in their decision-making process as for which products to buy. For instance, 70 percent of internet users use the internet as a research tool before buying books, CDs, or DVDs either online or offline. In the consumer electronics segment, this is true for 66 percent. When it comes to planning holidays or other recreational activity, more than half (56 percent) use the internet research prior to purchasing. In terms of fashion, German internet users are a bit more reserved, but the 41 percent doing research still top their European peers (34 percent average).

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Ingo R. Titze Research & Consulting is a member of the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany.

July 5, 2010: German market for consumer electronics to remain robust

Compared to the EU average, the German market for consumer electronics is expected to be fairly robust this year. According to estimates by industry association Bitkom, it might only see a small sales decrease by 0.4 per cent to 12.3 billion euro. Meanwhile, the overall EU market might decline by as much as 8.3 per cent to 54.1 billion euro. Particularly flat screen TVs are selling very well in Germany this year, with an expected rise by 2.9 per cent to 6.1 billion euro. Likewise, digital set-top-devices and BluRay players will see increasing sales. Germany is the largest country market for consumer electronics in the EU.

May 19, 2010: 60 percent of Germans shop online

A recent survey by Forsa/Bitkom found that six out of ten German consumers (at least 14 years of age) shopped on the internet last year. This is a growth of 10 percentage points compared to the previous year. Online payment systems such as PayPal, T-Pay, or Click-and-Buy play a significant role in this development. 17 percent of the German population have at least used one of those systems, up 6 percentage points compared to 2008. Most popular are those systems in the age group between 30 and 40 years. 29 per cent of the population in this age segment are registered with at least one of the payment systems. However, traditional paper invoices are still most popular across all age groups, followed by advance payment, debit, and COD. The use of credit cards is least popular.

April 20, 2010: Beer consumption in Germany remains high

Last year, total consumption of beer and beer-mixed beverages amounted to 86.1 million hectolitres (not including non-alcoholic and malt beer). This corresponds to a per-capita consumption of 121.4 litres of all persons who are at least 15 years old. Thus, every potential beer consumer on average drinks one bottle of beer (0.33 litres) per day.

March 25, 2010: 2.9 million Germans to buy e-books this year

According to a survey conducted for industry association Bitkom, 2.9 million German consumers are planning to buy an e-book this year. This represents a year-on-year growth rate of 32 per cent. It is expected that e-books will first become popular in the professional field since its search functions are considered to be of great value for this target group. However, every tenth young German (between 14 to 24 years of age) is said to purchase an e-book in 2010.