The Importance of E-Commerce for the German Economy 2025 (bevh)

Summary

• E-commerce contributed about €308 billion to German GDP in 2024, of which €119 billion was the direct contribution.p.8
• The total gross value added contribution of e-commerce rose from €171 billion in 2019 to €308 billion in 2024, an average annual growth rate of about 13 percent.p.8
• E-commerce supported 2.9 million jobs in 2024, up from 2.2 million in 2019.p.8
• E-commerce revenue in Germany was about €650 billion in 2024, largely driven by B2B.p.11
• There were about 140 thousand e-commerce companies in Germany in 2024.p.11
• Gross value added per employee in B2C e-commerce was about €88,000, versus about €69,000 for the trade, transport and hospitality sector.p.9
• Forecasts expect continued growth of about seven percent annually for German e-commerce until 2029.p.10

Key insights

1. For every euro e-commerce contributed itself, it stimulated an additional €1.60 of gross value added in the rest of the economy.p.8
2. Indirect contribution was €81 billion and induced contribution €108 billion of gross value added.p.8
3. E-commerce accounted for 34 percent of German employment growth between 2019 and 2024.p.9
4. Up to 66 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises sold products via online marketplaces in 2024.p.11
5. Between 2018 and 2022, gross wages and salaries in e-commerce rose by an average of 15 percent.p.11
6. Goods made up 62 percent of e-commerce revenue in 2024, with 86 percent in B2C and 56 percent in B2B.p.19