Boom in delivery services: Germans discover online supermarkets

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Grocery courier in Stuttgart

Photo: Arnulf Hettrich / imago images

The corona crisis will permanently change the shopping behavior of Germans.

Citizens are discovering food delivery services in the pandemic - and want to make greater use of them even after the crisis.

This is the result of the online monitor 2021 of the trade association HDE Germany.

According to this, almost half of Internet users have already ordered groceries online, 15 percent order at least every two weeks from service providers such as Rewe delivery service or start-ups such as Gorillas, which have raised millions of euros in venture capital in the past few weeks.

52 percent of consumers state that in future they will want to order groceries more often via smartphone or tablet than before.

Online sales made up only two percent of total food sales in Germany in 2020.

But the increase is considerable: In 2018, the share was only 1.2 percent.

The online monitor also shows similar shifts towards digital shopping for other product groups, such as clothing.

Even if the corona situation soon normalizes again, "not all customers will probably return to the city centers and shopping centers for every purchase," says Stephan Tromp, Deputy HDE Managing Director.

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