As of: February 23, 2024, 9:37 a.m
By: Max Müller
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In some German city centers, vacancies are more the rule than the exception.
© Martin Schutt/dpa
A study has examined how stores could have a future.
Some Germans still prefer local stores – for various reasons.
If you type the word “inner cities” into Google, the first suggestion that comes up is “dying out”.
This is probably primarily due to the fact that there are traditionally many shopping stores there, which are coming under increasing pressure due to the variety of online shopping options.
The result: a lack of customers, closing shops, deserted inner cities.
This hits traditional, small and medium-sized businesses particularly hard, as data from the industry association HDE shows.
The share of sales generated by independent specialist retailers shrank to 13.3 percent in 2022, after 13.9 percent in the previous year.
The proportion of so-called “non-branched specialist retailers” – i.e. classic, often owner-managed specialist shops such as men’s outfitters, shoe stores or stationery retailers – has more than halved in the last 20 years.
The reasons are discussed again and again and solutions are urgently sought.
This is where a new study from the opinion research institute Insa (on behalf of the payment service provider Unzer) comes in, which is available exclusively to
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
The question is: How can businesses become more attractive again?
Shop online or in store: 41.5 percent want stronger connections
The good news is, first of all, that Germans want both: online and offline shopping.
However, they would like better interlocking.
According to the study, 41.5 percent would welcome retailers combining online and offline shopping experiences.
Specifically, this means that stores no longer differentiate between online, app and stationary sales, but instead offer consumers an account in which all payment data and addresses are stored.
For example, you can shop in brick-and-mortar stores but still have the product sent to your home.
Or you look at a product in the store but then buy it via a mobile app.
The study also examined why people prefer to shop locally or order online.
Offline buyers in particular most often value the on-site shopping experience as being able to look at the goods before completing the purchase (70 percent).
55 percent say that they generally have the need to go to stores.
Almost half of those surveyed cited social reasons (49 percent).
39 percent also value the on-site service and 33 percent the option to exchange items.
Online shoppers cite convenience (69 percent), followed by better offers (54 percent) and more flexible payment options (42 percent) as reasons.
A lack of parking spaces attracts customers to city centers
There are also other approaches to ensure that on-site shopping can continue to be economically viable in the future.
A study by RWTH Aachen last November showed that the key to success is parking spaces.
More precisely: lack of parking spaces.
The researchers found that more space for footpaths or cycle paths as well as green spaces and outdoor dining promote the desire to shop.
Sales increases were also recorded in other cities - including Bern, Bristol and Madrid - after cars had to give way.
The findings of the Aachen researchers suggest that street parking spaces in inner cities could be significantly reduced.
This would make existing parking garages more fully utilized and the free spaces could be used differently.
However, in Germany it is not possible to do without parking space at all: shoppers want to be able to park their cars within a radius of up to 500 meters.