Sales from Shein, Temu and AliExpress are collapsing in Germany

The sales of the Asian shopping platforms Shein, Temu and AliExpress literally collapsed in Germany in the third quarter. Revenues were 35.5 percent weaker than in the same quarter last year, said the Federal Association of E-Commerce and Mail Order Germany (BEVH).

According to the association, the main reason is that the duty-free limit for shipments of goods up to 150 euros from non-EU countries was abolished in July. Since then, every shipment of goods to the EU has been subject to customs duties. This means: Small shipments cost three euros in customs duties per item.

Fees will continue to rise from November

From November onwards, shipping from non-EU countries will become even more expensive: a processing fee of 2 euros will then be charged. With these measures, politicians want to curb the import of large quantities of cheap goods from third countries into the EU.

However, this does not go far enough for the BEVH. “To ensure fair competition, the EU must strengthen market surveillance authorities and enforce existing laws,” said Chief Executive Alien Mulyk.

Online trading weaker overall

In fact, the market share of the three largest Asian platforms in German online retail fell from 5.3 percent in the second quarter to 3.1 percent. Online trading in Germany lost overall momentum in the third quarter. Sales were 2.9 percent higher than in the same quarter of the previous year. Inflation is not taken into account.

Between April and June the market grew by a good five percent. The association cited poorer consumer sentiment as the cause.