According to a statement by the Federal Association of Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) electronic business is booming in Germany. 46 billion Euros were spent by Germans on goods and services in the year 2006 on the internet. This represents an increase by 44% as compared with the previous year, says BITKOM. The lion share of almost 90% of electronic business was done by companies.
Thanks to attractive offers and high security standars the internet is becoming always more popular with consumers. Besides traditional outlets and mail ordering the internet has firmly established itself as the important sales channel. By the year 2010 turnover in electronic business with private customers will probably increase to 145 billion Euros. According to BITKOM the annual growth rate amounts to 33% on average.
The favourite internet products of private customers are books, followed by entrance cards for a wide variety of events and garments. Online customers always more frequently buy high-quality products such as consumer electronics or holiday trips. The average value of a single purchase is constantly increasing. More and more often German consumers directly download music, audiobooks, games, videos or software to their home computers. According to BITKOM estimations the turnover in legal downloads increased by 20% to about 120 million Euros in 2006.
A recent study conducted by the EITO market research institute on behalf of BITKOM revealed that almost 90% of electronic commerce is accounted for by business-to-business transactions. In 2006 online business-to-business turnover increased by 36% to 392 billion Euros and the forecast for 2010 is 636 billion Euros.
Over the past year Germany strengthened its leading European position in electronic business. 30% of all the goods and services traded over the internet in Western Europe were sold in Germany in 2006. With a share of 18% Great Britain ranked second. 