Germany distance sales of goods
Germany distance sales of goods stood at 84,122 million euros in 2025. It is one of the indicators in the Annual e-commerce turnover by category and seller channel table (Value · Annual), with a complete series running from 2022 to 2025. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Annual e-commerce turnover by category and seller channel table
| Indicator | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goods and digital services in distance selling | 98,562 | 94,949 | 93,562 | 102,685 | |
| Goods in all distance selling channels1 | 84,122 | 81,493 | 80,884 | 91,431 | |
| Goods sold online | 83,148 | 80,571 | 79,704 | 90,398 |
Understanding germany distance sales of goods
Physical merchandise dispatched through any remote order pipeline, combining internet checkouts with postal and catalogue orders, constitutes this aggregate. The series covers all consumer goods delivered to households following an order placed at a distance, uniting online platforms with traditional mail-order channels. It excludes all digital services, travel bookings, and virtual downloads, which are tracked in separate lines of the table. Unlike its child row for online goods, this measure retains non-digital remote sales, providing an encompassing total for the entire goods distance selling trade. Values reflect gross turnover in million euros, inclusive of value-added tax.
Annual reporting consolidates full-year sales, smoothing over fourth-quarter shopping spikes and promotional discounting periods. Year-on-year analysis is the appropriate method for tracing structural trends across distance retail channels, but analysts should separate volume movements from price inflation embedded in nominal euro figures. Comparing this encompassing goods series with its child online goods row isolates the ongoing displacement of traditional printed catalogue ordering by digital storefronts. Furthermore, because these data record customer invoice totals, subsequent product returns are not deducted, which should be kept in mind when assessing retained merchant turnover.
Frequently asked questions
- Which ordering channels are incorporated into this goods aggregate?
- The series combines purchases made via digital websites and mobile apps with traditional telephone orders and printed mail-order catalogues.
- Does this series include digital services such as travel or streaming?
- No, it is restricted to physical merchandise and omits all intangible digital services.
- Are merchandise returns subtracted from these published figures?
- Figures reflect gross customer spending at checkout and do not deduct subsequent returns or order cancellations.