As a Dutch webshop, it seems so simple: expand to the large sales market in Germany. Yet the reality turns out to be somewhat different. Language and distance are not the only factors that come into play if you want to expand into the German market. The difference between Dutch and German culture is bigger than you think. When it comes to e-commerce, a German consumer has remarkable characteristics of which few Dutch people are aware.
I recently started working as an intern at Tomahawk. Over the past four years I have completed my studies in German Language and Culture at Utrecht University. With my knowledge of German Culture and my great interest in the German market, I support the online marketing team in exploring the road to the German market for Dutch webshops. This blog gives a little insight into one part of that road: striking characteristics of a German consumer.
Bundesländer: North Rhine-Westphalia or Bayern after all?
Before you choose to expand to Germany, it is important to realize that Germany has nearly 83 million inhabitants and that someone from Berlin is not the same as someone from Bavaria. It probably doesn't sound illogical to you that there are differences between Germans, the country consists of 16 different federal states (in German: Bundesländer). That means you actually have to consider 16 different "countries. That there are many differences between the Bundesländer is a fact. Of course, some Bundesländer are more like one than another, and you can make a natural division between West and East Germany. You can find out in what ways the federal states differ from each other. Here you can think about how prosperous the area is, which industries do well in the area or how many inhabitants the area has. People usually talk about the prosperous state of North Rhine-Westphalia. But did you know that Bavaria is almost as prosperous?
Specifically: Let's pull out some data from Bavaria. In 2016, 19.1% of all online purchases in all of Germany were made in this area. In North Rhine-Westphalia, this percentage was 20%, which means there is only a 0.9% difference. If you compare Bavaria's data with a state like Thuringia, where the percentage was only at 2.6%, it is almost immediately clear that Bavaria had a much larger share. So you see that if you look further, you come to other insights and Bavaria could also be very interesting for Dutch web shops.
Here's what German consumer behavior is like
The fact that a German consumer is very thorough (in German: Gründlichkeit) also applies to his online behavior. An example of this is that statistics have shown that a German consumer has different requirements (compared to a Dutch consumer) before buying a product in a webshop. German consumers pay attention that:
- The German spelling and sentence structure used on the website is correct. So it is already assumed that website is in German 😉
- A webshop has the right seals of approval, such as the well-known seal of approval is: e-Trusted Shops Guarentee
- The website appears professional. This means that the various requirements along with a structured design ensure this professionalism.
- In addition, there are legal requirements in Germany that a website must meet. Two important requirements of these:
- There must always be an Impressum (a declaration of ownership and authorship) on the website.
- The General Terms and Conditions (Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen AGB) must always be listed on the website.
Incidentally, it is striking that more than half of German consumers do not know what the seals of approval they like so much on a webshop actually mean. This does not make the above requirements any less important: A significant proportion of German consumers will only proceed to purchase if they are met. So a spelling mistake here or there can have a bigger impact on your conversion rate than you think.
Notable features
In 2016, German consumers valued a good product description and the correct use of images more than the name recognition of web shops. We Dutch are often keen on a modern design of a website, the German consumer, on the other hand, does not consider this creativity and modernity of such importance. In short: if you prepare your website for the German consumer, they will enthusiastically store with you.
Get in touch
Do you also want to cross the border with your webshop, but could use some help with this? Let this be our expertise!
