TNS und OTTO präsentieren Studie „Wie shoppt Deutschland online?“

In October 2017 Kantar TNS carried out a representative study commissioned by Internet retailer OTTO, surveying the online buying behaviour of Germans in relation to their gender, age, life stage (single, family, empty-nester, etc.) and region (north, south, east, west, rural area, major city).

As one of the leading online retailers in Germany, OTTO analyses e-commerce purchasing behaviour on a daily basis with a view to shaping the future of digital retail, as per the company credo. This study is the first to show comprehensively how, why and how often Germans today shop online or use other online services, depending on the factors listed above.

Marc Opelt, Member of the OTTO Management Board for Marketing and OTTO Spokesman: “Online shopping has been a part of daily life in Germany for a long time now, and shows that our passion for digitalisation, our curiosity about innovation and our adaptability are being rewarded. At the same time, the survey demonstrates that we have by no means reached the limit. Customers’ demand for new product groups and technologies is constantly on the rise. In the near future, these will make the experience of Internet shopping even easier and even more enjoyable.” Opelt continues: “We believe that this confirms that we are on the right path of turning our business model into a platform on which we will fulfil our customers’ wishes, bring new brands to otto.de, establish new services and strongly expand our assortment.”

An overview of the most important results of the representative survey:

• Germany shops online: almost three quarters (72 percent) of all Germans buy products and services online – men slightly more than women. Especially younger couples and families purchase many product categories via the Internet.
• Traditional roles: clothing and shoes are the most frequent (73 percent) items ordered online. Men continue to buy more in the consumer technology segment, while women buy more clothing and shoes as well as personal care products and jewellery.
• Boom in ‘the little things’: products that invite browsing and offer a genuine shopping experience as a result are more suited to spontaneous and unplanned online purchases than others – clothing, shoes, entertainment media such as books, DVDs and CDs, for example, but also perfume and toiletries are increasingly spontaneous purchases. Here, it is women more than men who make spontaneous purchases online.
• ‘Shopping myself happy!’: emotional states can exert an influence as part of the online shopping experience. 74 percent of Germans admit that their moods can lead to spontaneous Internet purchases – younger people more so than older ones. Especially positive feelings like a reward, a good mood and a desire for something new are significant as intrinsic triggers.
• Discounts lure people onto the net: spontaneous online purchases can also be triggered by external factors: money-off vouchers and free shipping for a given value of the shopping cart are the most relevant factors here, as they offer potential financial savings.
• Time to pay – but how?: payment on invoice and PayPal are the two most common payment methods for Internet purchases; women prefer payment on invoice for security reasons, while men select PayPal for convenience. Younger people use direct debits and immediate bank transfers as well. They display less need for security and have a more flexible attitude towards digital payment methods.
• Confirmed – men buy the Technology: for around two thirds of Germans, purchasing technology online is an option. 69 percent buy consumer entertainment electronics (for example TVs, smartphones, and PCs) while 62 percent buy household appliances (for example fridges, dishwashers) ¬– categories in which more men than women make purchases.
• Honest information about deliveries, which also includes the accuracy of delivery-time statements and punctual deliveries, is the most important service for technology purchases. This is significantly more important to Germans than same-day delivery, for example. Women appear to be more demanding than men overall when it comes to evaluating service performance, likewise families and older people.
• Specialists vs. universal retailers – score draw: the data shows that for consumer entertainment electronics and household appliances, the preference for buying from a specialist retailer online is just as high as for buying from an online universal retailer.
• Classic media are out: around half of Germans (48 percent) use and buy digital content, most of all in form of pay-TV subscriptions, buying/hiring music and streaming films/series.
• ‘Intelligent’ speakers are booming: smartspeakers and devices with artificial intelligence (for example Google Home) are emerging as in-trend products, in particular for young couples and families. From the survey questions, it is clear that despite a greater distribution of shopping opportunities in larger cities (above 100,000 inhabitants), there is more of a tendency towards online shopping than in rural areas.

Befragungsbasis: Repräsentative Umfrage von Kantar TNS im Oktober 2017, 1290 Befragte ab 18 Jahren.

OTTO is Germany’s largest Internet retailer for fashion and lifestyle, with revenue amounting to 2.72 billion euros in the 2016/17 financial year. The company generates more than 90 percent of its revenue online, with some 6 million active customers, around 2.2 million products in the online shop, 6,000 brands, and up to 10 orders per second.

Kantar TNS (until 2016: TNS Infratest) is one of the most respected market-research and policy and social research institutes in Germany. Kantar TNS is part of the Kantar Group, within which WPP (London) has bundled its market research activities.