Fashion is a big industry. Not only worldwide but in Germany too. When it comes to ecommerce it is one of the biggest markets in this country. The fashion ecommerce market is predicted to reach US$87,445m in 2020.
So which brands are German favorites? We have examined some statistics, and we have some conclusions.
The most popular clothing retailers
Based on data provided for the period between 2016 and 2019, there is about a 12% difference between number one and number two. It means the Germans have one leader when it comes to clothing. Almost 40% of consumers chose C&A as their favorite fashion brand. C&A runs its branches across Europe. There are above 1500 stores all over the continent. Nevertheless, you can see a solid downward trend year by year.
The second place belongs to H&M. Almost 28% of Germans choose this store to complete outfits. It is one of the biggest clothing retailers who run about 5000 stores worldwide. As we have already mentioned here, clients in this country prefer to do shopping in ecommerce, which provides the German language on their sites. Not surprisingly at all, both C&A and H&M provide it.
The third-place belongs to Peek & Cloppenburg. It is a German clothing retailer that has been on the market since 1900. No needs to add that this store also provides a German-language site.
If we look at statistics from 2019- the most popular clothing stores by gender, the top three are C&A, H&M, and KiK – a German store too.
What about other stores?
In two mentioned above rankings, Peek and Cloppenburg switch places with KiK. But what about the next places in the ranking? Let’s see.
The fifth-place belongs to the New Yorker. It is also a German store which provides clothes for people in 30 countries. Then Takko and s.Oliver, which results are pretty similar – around 10% of German consumers choose to purchase in these stores.
About 9% of Germans choose their clothes in Ernsting’s family and Esprit. Little less – 8% do shopping in Adler and Primark. And there is ZARA – one of few stores with a rising trend in this comparison. There is also NKD, a German clothes retailer. It has also gained some fans across the years.
In ranging of the most popular clothing retailers in the years between 2016-2019, 18 stores gained 6% or less of Germans’ interest. What is also very interesting Other clothing stores lost their popularity. It could mean that clothing retailers are getting more and accessible to consumers and thus more popular.
Or maybe, as we are looking at the last category Didn’t buy in clothing stores, it could also mean that German customers are getting more eco-friendly and start choosing vintage stores or second hands as their go-to in the case of clothes.
What about German stores popular worldwide?
One of the most famous German brands is the high fashion one – Hugo Boss. Year by year, it is getting more reliable buyers, and thus the brand is making more money. In last year Hugo Boss revenues reached 2.88 bn EUR. It was the highest amount since the begging of this century. The market value of this market (only in Europe) is 8.58 bn USD. These numbers are enormous, and this is one of the best proof of Hugo Boss’s success.
Adidas is another German brand that became a worldwide success. It is a company best known for sports footwear (it produces over 400 m of pairs annually), but it provides many more items – sports clothing and accessories such as balls or exercise mats. Currently, the Adidas brand’s revenue stands at the level of 15.14 bn USD. And that is a result of just the footwear market.
To wrap up
Below, you can find a tab that presents the top 20 brands in Germany.
| Brand | Website address | Country |
| C&A | https://www.c-and-a.com/de/de/shop | Belgium |
| H&M | https://www2.hm.com/de | Sweden |
| Peek & Cloppenburg | https://www.peek-cloppenburg.de/ | Germany |
| KiK | https://www.kik.de/ | Germany |
| New Yorker | https://www.newyorker.de/ | Germany |
| Takko | https://www.takko.com/de-de/ | Germany |
| s.Oliver | https://www.soliver.eu/ | Germany |
| Ernsting’s family | https://www.ernstings-family.de/ | Germany |
| Esprit | https://www.esprit.de/ | USA |
| Adler | https://www.adler.info/de/de | Czech Republic |
| Primark | https://www.primark.com/de | Ireland |
| ZARA | https://www.zara.com/de/ | Spain |
| NKD | https://www.nkd.com/de_de/ | Germany |
| Vögele | – | Switzerland |
| Gerry Weber | https://www.gerryweber.com/ | Germany |
| Tom Tailor | https://www.tom-tailor.eu/ | Germany |
| Vero Moda | https://www.veromoda.com/ | Denmark |
| TK Maxx | https://www.tkmaxx.com/ | USA |
| Street One | https://www.street-one.de/ | USA |
source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/503249/most-popular-clothing-retailers-germany/
Germans are demanding consumers who rarely buy under the influence of emotions. Apart from the German-language website, a store chosen by the client should provide a product of stable quality at a price that goes hand in hand with it. If the brand meets Germans’ expectations, they will remain faithful to it for a long time.
German brands that have achieved success on the international stage are only a confirmation of the Germans’ ideals – high quality and fair price.
