Germany’s economy is one of the strongest in Europe, with its nominal GDP often cited as the third-best in the world after the United States and China.
This economic dominance means that the average German citizen bears significant spending power, making German shoppers an attractive prospect for any brand operating in Europe.
This increased spending power holds true for the country’s digital economy, where investment in new technology and digital infrastructure reveals Germany’s commitment to this sector. One recent report shows that IT and telecommunications market turnover is expected to grow by 4.6% to 232.8 billion euros this year.
As a result of this investment in IT and digital tech, Germany boasts a thriving e-commerce market, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.6% from 2024 to 2030. Meanwhile, another recent study shows that the German e-commerce market is expected to reach USD 2,767.8 million by 2030.
Changing German online payment preferences
However, German e-commerce depends on one thing above all others: payments. Without robust and efficient payment systems that support multiple payment options, cart abandonment and fraud rates will increase, leading to revenue loss.
E-commerce merchants must understand German customers’ payment preferences to succeed in a rapidly evolving online and instant economy.
Therefore, this article analyses the findings of Brite’s survey of over 2,000+ German online shoppers, our latest Online Payment Trends Report 2025—read it now!
The survey aimed to determine what German consumers shop for, how they want to pay for their purchases, and how all this feeds into today’s instant economy – this year’s report follows up on research we performed 12 months prior.
What is the Instant Economy?
We discussed exactly what the Instant Economy is in last year’s report. However, we’ll explain it again for those unfamiliar with the term.
In layperson’s terms, the Instant Economy is a digital transformation of financial transactions and consumer interactions, marked by speed, convenience, and personalisation. Technological advancements, changing consumer behaviours, and increasing digital payment integration have shaped this movement.
Above all, the Instant Economy is characterised by real-time interactions, which answer modern digital consumers’ need for instant responses in their digital interactions—powering the modern e-commerce industry.
For example, the Instant Economy ethos strives to enable customers to engage in buying and selling products or services instantly while also receiving real-time updates.
Lastly, the Instant Economy relies heavily on tech to deliver superior customer service, and deep and scalable digital integrations across departments are needed to achieve this.
What Are German Shoppers Buying?
So, now that we know what the Instant Economy is and how it works, how are German shoppers leveraging it when interacting with online stores? What kinds of products are German e-commerce consumers purchasing, and what payment methods are they using?
According to Brite’s survey results, cosmetics and beauty products are the most purchased product category in the Instant economy. By far and away a whopping 46.4% of all respondents said that they purchased these products online.
This reflects one of the key benefits of the Instant Economy, where stores are often seamlessly integrated with social media platforms to provide influencers with mass-market products to audiences while compressing the buyer’s journey through personalised offers and types of digital and instant payments.
Apart from this, books and educational materials were the next-most purchased e-commerce items, with 32.6% of Germans purchasing them online. This figure highlights the potential that subscription-based media models can have for online shoppers, especially for books, audiobooks, video content, and online seminars.
German Shopper Preferences By Gender
There are also differences in how men and women in Germany shop online, and the Instant Economy might be better suited to one gender’s purchases than the other, depending on what they are buying.
For instance, female consumers dominate e-commerce categories such as fashion, beauty, and groceries and slightly prefer books and educational material. This means smaller items and cosmetics are well-suited to high-consumption, trend-driven items and everyday necessities in e-commerce.
On the other hand, e-commerce consumers of electronics, online gaming and gambling, crypto and digital assets, and digital subscriptions were more likely to be male. This means male e-commerce consumers are more likely to want high-value, secure bank-based payments when purchasing these items online.
What do German Shoppers Want from their Payments?
But what kind of payments do German shoppers want to rely upon when paying for them? And why is that? When asked what they thought were the most critical aspects of a payment method, Security ranked highest, with 60% of respondents. Meanwhile, a trustworthy payment provider brand ranked second (51.7%), while ease of use came third (45.1%). All this suggests that German consumers seek a safe payment option that protects their personal data and finances from bad actors.
Considering this, they prefer to partner with reputable payment providers that can manage their transactions effectively and responsibly, avoiding excessive complexity that could complicate the payment platform. Additionally, German consumers have a strong aversion to unnecessary steps during online purchases; they seek payment options that are quick and straightforward.
In accordance with the Instant Economy, consumers also want near-instant refunds. 15% of respondents said they now expected payouts within 10 seconds, up from just 4% in 2024, while 29% expect payouts within 60 seconds. Further, nearly half of all German consumers surveyed claimed to expect instant payments now.
With all this in mind, out of all available payment options, Pay by Bank (which in Brite Payment’s case is based upon instant A2A payments) is well-positioned to meet this demand and should be promoted as a key payout method by e-commerce merchants. If they haven’t already, merchants looking to succeed in the German market should invest in Pay by Bank as a payment option.
Conclusion
Do you want to integrate new payment methods into your checkout? Brite boasts a wealth of experience and resources to help e-commerce merchants understand and adopt new payment technologies, which can help them target new markets and more consumers.
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of Pay by Bank and other open banking-powered payment trends in Germany and beyond, get in touch with our payments experts.
