Top 5 Online Electronics Stores in Germany: Amazon Is Number One

Top Electronics Online Stores in Germany: Key Insights

• Amazon Is the Top Store: Electronics is the largest category on amazon.de, and it dominates the other retailers by a wide margin.

• Domestic Stores Are Influential: 3 German retailers are among the top 5 electronics online stores, including Media Markt, Otto, and Saturn.

• Apple Thrives in Germany: Despite Germany not being apple.com's largest market, apple.com does quite well in German electronics eCommerce.

Germany’s online electronics market is expected to reach US$23.8 billion by 2024, and the category is the third most profitable segment of the market, behind fashion and hobby & leisure. Germany is a mature market for eCommerce electronics, as it is a popular product category for online shoppers. 

Here are the five online retailers that are taking the lead in German electronics eCommerce 2024.

What Is the Online Electronics Market?

The electronics category as per ECDB definition, includes consumer electronics (audio, cameras, computing, fitness trackers, game consoles, printers & scanners, telecommunications, TV & video, others) and electrical appliances (household appliances and personal care appliances).  

See the electronics section of our website for a more detailed definition. 

Out of scope are mobile contracts and tariffs, services for setup and installation of electronic devices, software, car electronics, and power tools.

Top Online Stores in German Electronics

Here are the five stores with the highest online revenues in the German electronics market.

• Amazon dwarfs the other retailers: In 2023, the eCommerce giant generated US$6.2 billion in electronics sales in Germany. 

• Media Markt is a distant second with US$1.6 billion in eCommerce sales. 

• Apple ranks third: The U.S. electronics retailer Apple generated US$1.3 billion. 

• Otto is in fourth place: With US$1 billion in eCommerce net sales, otto.de is another successful retailer in Germany’s online electronics market. 

• Saturn follows with US$659 million in 2023.

What factors determine the position of the individual stores?

1. Amazon.de

Electronics is the largest category on amazon.de, with 36.6% of its net sales coming from consumer electronics (26.8%) and electrical appliances (9.8%). It should not come as too much of a surprise that Amazon ranks so high, given that it is the largest retailer in German eCommerce, with net sales of US$17.1 billion in 2023. 

Amazon's advantage over its competitors includes its wide range of products, customer-centric approach with fast delivery, and trusted reputation.

But for Amazon, electronics account for only a small portion of revenue. This is different for Media Markt, which specializes in electronics.

2. Mediamarkt.de

Owned by the Ceconomy AG, Media Markt is synonymous with electronics for German consumers, so it figures that its online store ranks high in the eCommerce market. But a look at its eCommerce revenue performance shows that mediamarkt.de has struggled to recover from the post-pandemic sales slowdown:

• Online sales peaked during the pandemic. 

• In 2024 and 2025, ECDB expects slight increases again.

Media Markt’s online success can be attributed to its large assortment, consumer trust and infrastructure. Physical store networks allow a hybrid strategy that combines the best of online and offline shopping, such as click & collect services, BOPIS (Buy Online Pay In Store) or home delivery for products inspected in-store.

3. Apple.com

Apple.com generated US$1.3 billion in eCommerce net sales of electronics in the German market. Apple's global ubiquity is remarkable and shows that Apple products are popular around the world.  

While Apple is the third largest retailer of electronics in Germany, Germany is not even in the top 5 for apple.com: 

• By far the largest market for apple.com in the United States with 55% of online net sales in 2023. 

• In the top 2 to 5 are Japan (6.4%), Greater China (6.3%), the UK (4.9%), and Canada (3.9%). 

• The “Others” category includes many markets with smaller shares, like Australia (2.7%), Germany (2.7%), and France (2.4%).

4. Otto.de

Otto is a German retailer with a solid performance in ecommerce. In the electronics segment, otto.de generated online net sales of US$999 million in 2023. 

Largely coined as an Amazon alternative, Otto has high awareness in Germany, but also faces pressure from the emergence of low-cost platforms like Temu.

5. Saturn.de

Saturn is another electronics retailer owned by Ceconomy. It generated US$659 million in 2023. 

Saturn.de’s product mix does not exclusively include electronics. It also sells hobby & leisure (10%), furniture & homeware (5%) and DIY (3%). Electronics account for 82% of its online net sales. As a result, saturn.de’s eCommerce net sales development is higher than its revenue generated by selling electronics.

The sales development of saturn.de follows that of mediamarkt.de, but at a lower level.

• In the pandemic years online revenues exceeded US$1 billion for the first time. They then peaked at US$1.6 billion in 2021. 

• But the following years saw sharp declines, particularly in 2023, when online revenues fell below one billion. 

• A recovery is expected by 2024 and 2025.

The problem for saturn.de is that competitors at lower positions are vying for the top spots. Saturn is very similar in product focus, strategy and pricing to Media Markt. Consumers may not shop at both stores for the sake of it. Given increased consumer awareness, lower price offers and positive shopper experiences, stores like cyberport.de, notebooksbilliger.de or alternate.de could overtake saturn.de in the foreseeable future. 

Electronics Online Stores Germany: Wrap-Up

Germany’s online electronics market is dominated by Amazon but otherwise domestic brands take a large share of the market. Ceconomy-owned Media Markt and Saturn rank in the top 5, as do Otto and Apple.  

Online shoppers in Germany gravitate towards what is known and trusted, which in the case of electronics is ideally combined with omnichannel services to ensure product quality.