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nations since the 1980s. Especially in the clothing segment, Germany imports majority of its apparel requirements from overseas, thus offering vast growth opportunities for foreign entities that want to make the most of it.
On the domestic front, the so-called structural changes in the last 10-12 years have reportedly transformed the German textile industry from low-tech manufacturing into a high-tech and innovative sector, so much so that today the country is considered the market leader in technical textiles.
As per the German business portal iXPOS, majority of imported textiles and clothing in 2013 came from Asia( about 51 per cent) and the EU( 30 per cent), in which China, Bangladesh and Turkey were the prominent players. This further underlines that e-commerce has become a popular channel for buying fashion wherein a large chunk of German consumers reportedly ordered apparels online, in which garment and shoe were the most attractive product groups for online shopping.
Armed with the right market information and insight and knowledge of appropriate distribution channels, apparel exporters stand a good chance to increase their market share in Germany, more so in the light of
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relaxed import regulations. To elaborate on the same, in order to import textile products into Germany, companies reportedly need to just furnish a certificate of origin( Ursprungszeugnis), while textile products coming from countries that have no bilateral agreements with the EU require an import license( Einfuhrgenehmigung) in order to enter Germany. |
E-commerce: A growth driver!
As per market research company eMarketer’ s report, retail e-commerce sales in the country will surpass US $ 86 billion by the end of 2021 with retail e-commerce sales expected to rise by 5.3 per cent in 2021. Registering a sale of 12.5 per cent to hit US $ 58.52 billion in 2016 already, a large chunk of digital purchases in Germany, which is second only to the UK in the value of retail e-commerce sales within Western Europe, is expected to be on fashion and consumer electronic items, the report underlined.
According to trade portal Santander, German consumers enjoy a high standard of living, and optimise their resources more and more. They have low level of loyalty, and buy discounted products as much as branded products. Price and quality are two most important factors for the Germans, who are reportedly very aware of the environmental impact of products they buy, and put
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As per market research company eMarketer’ s report, retail e-commerce sales in the country will surpass US $ 86 billion by the end of 2021 with retail e-commerce sales expected to rise by 5.3 per cent in 2021... |
a lot of emphasis on‘ sustainable’ and‘ green’ products.
The portal’ s findings further stress that German consumers are used to buying from catalogues, and are more prone to buy on the internet. Almost 90 per cent of the population is connected to internet, and online purchases are on the rise.
Amazon makes hay …
As a key regional market, Germany continues to attract attention from national retailers experimenting with new services as well as international retailers aiming to extend their own consumer bases, maintained the portal’ s report.
As per a survey by the German Trade Association, Handelsverband Deutschland( HDE), US-based Amazon commands 46 per cent of the ¤ 8.90 billion German online retail market, followed by eBay which got 9.4 per cent of the votes from the respondents while the well-known German catalogue retailer Otto, bagged the third position with 6.8 per cent vote share.
Bangladesh making inroads …
The dwindling share in the US market has evoked mixed reactions from the industry, and understandably so. After all, US has been through thick and thin with Bangladesh apparel industry so far.
A certain section within the industry
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