Dr. Laura Schramm
24. Mai 2022
10 min
How have the top 50 e-commerce players in Germany performed in terms of SEO over the last 12 months during Corona?
Part of the analysis are 52 of the largest online shops (without Amazon.de and Amazon.com) based on the rating Top 100 top-selling online shops in Germany by EHI and Statista (from 2021) and their SEO development for the German market based on a comparison of the Sistrix visibility index from May 2021 to May 2022.
On average, the 50 companies grew by 19.12% for desktop and 17.76% for mobile. Compared to last year's analysis (desktop 7.2% | mobile 6.8%), this is a significant jump. Let's first take a look at the list of winners and losers below, after that we analyze the companies that stood out and derive trends.
On average, the 34 winners for desktop gained 36.87% while the 16 losers lost -18.62%. In the mobile area, the gains (29) in particular deviate strongly from the desktop area with 42.69%, while the losses (11) are comparably high with -16.68%.
The following 29 companies were able to make gains for desktop and mobile in the period under review (desktop | mobile): It is striking that all companies that were able to gain visibility for mobile compared to the previous year also achieved gains for desktop.
Zalando +47.06% | +41.86%
Apple +17.48% | +8.11%
Ikea +49.48% | +66.48%
H&M +8.97% | +3.86%
AboutYou +13.26 | 12.93%
Shop-Apotheke +51.06% | +45.65%
Tchibo +54.33% | +7.90%
Hornbach +10.61% | +8.99%
Douglas +13.99% | +11.31%
Rewe +50.06% | +33.38%
Mytoys +12.61% | +10.54%
Mindfactory +27.28% | +22.26%
Auragentum +272.78% | +228.73%
Obi +45.22% | +38.43%
Thomann +22.12% | +29.03%
Bestsecret +41.48% | +48.03%
Edelmetallhandel +46.57%| +44.23%
SOliver +15.84% | +22.34%
Wayfair +4.67% | +0.82%
Thalia +35.21% | +28.57%
Breuninger +39.03% | +37.47%
Home24 +18.45% | +19.70%
Shein +23.37% | 121.12%
Medpex +13.84% | +14.51%
Bauhaus +59.81% | +59.52%
Asos +30.85% | +25.68%
Nike +74.51% | +95.50%
HSE +141.62% | +148.13%
XXXLutz +0.34% | +3.07%
The following 16 companies lost visibility for desktop and mobile in the period studied (desktop | mobile):
Saturn -18.72% | -23.57%
Notebooksbilliger -7.22 | -12.20%
Alternate -1.29% | -10.78%
Bonprix -26.04% | -34.52%
Cyberport -9.85% | -7.93%
Conrad -14.32% | -18.83%
Baur -20.56% | -18.03%
DocMorris -27.41% | -31.13%
Zooplus -14.45% | -16.05%
Degussa -33.11% | -24.97%
Flaconi -11.74% | -16.78%
Limango -6.49% | -17.07%
Flaschenpost -12,73% | -27,50%
Goldsilbershop -6.39% | -11.38%
Eis.de -43.16% | -44.91%
Esprit -44.39% | -20.51%
For the following five companies, the visibility for desktop and mobile developed in opposite directions in the period under review (desktop | mobile):
Otto +5.88% | -0.20%
Media Markt +1.42% | -3.04
Lidl +0.06% | -3.9%
QVC +3.17% | -1.97%
AO +1.22% | -5.07%
There are some extreme changes in the top 50. Let's take a closer look at Nike, HSE and Shop-Apotheke:
Nike is one of the strongest winners in the visibility analysis with a growth of 74.51% for desktop and 95.50% for mobile. Also impressive is the revenue growth of 125% to € 225 million in 2020 compared to the previous year 2019 with still €100 million revenue from e-commerce activities. This development shows that Nike has placed itself excellently in terms of sales in the first pandemic year and the visibility is continuing to increase significantly.
Nike's strongest competitor Adidas cannot be counted among the losers either, but currently ranks 60th among Germany's top-selling online stores with €186 million (previous year €116 million). Moreover Adidas can also report significant visibility gains (desktop 35.5% | mobile 70.69%). In addition, Adidas' shopping app is convincing, seemingly more frequented than Nike's shopping app (57,000 ratings and also 4.8 out of 5) with 98,000 reviews (average rating 4.8 out of 5).
[Sales for Nike and Adidas are reported by EHI and Statista as Statista analysis based on company data.]
HSE experienced a significant visibility drop last year due to a domain change. The visibility of the new domain hse.de has not only increased by 141.62% last year, but also clearly exceeds the highest absolute visibility level of the old domain hse24.de. The visibility trend shows a stable growth, apparently online marketing is doing something right here.
The SEO analysis shows an interesting trend among pharmacies. After all pharmacies except Medpex were winners last year, Shop-Apotheke wins this year with a big lead and has a higher absolute visibility alone than the three competitors DocMorris, Medpex and Medikamente per Klick together (68 vs. 50). The visibility both desktop and mobile (+51.06% | +45.65%) shows an impressive increase for the sales volume of €549.5 million. In the previous year, sales were still shown by Statista at €405.3 million, which represents an increase of 36%.
The online pharmacy Medpex, which is less relevant in terms of sales, also changed from being a loser in the previous year to a winner this year. Thus, Medpex was able to significantly increase its visibility (+13.84% | +14.51%) but also its sales (+24%). Much more interesting here is the trend of their shopping app: positive reviews climbed from 36,000 to 55,000 within the last year. This increase in ratings by more than 50% suggests a significantly more intensive use of the app.
DocMorris, on the other hand, is still strong in terms of sales, but is a clear loser in terms of visibility (-27.41% | -31.13%). Last year's winner Medikamente per Klick not only slips into the loser's bracket in the SEO analysis (-10.81% | -15.43% ), but also no longer remains among the top 50 top-selling online shops.
Conclusion: Both Shop-Apotheke and Medpex seem to be doing quite a bit right in online marketing and outperform their competitors in the SEO analysis and shopping apps.
[The sales for Shop-Apotheke, Medpex, Docmorris and Medikamente per Klick are reported by EHI and Statista as a Statista analysis based on company data.]
In addition to the niche store Auragentum (+272,78% | +228,73%), the biggest relative winners (all over 50% growth) are HSE (+141,62% | +148,13%), Nike (+74,51% | +95,50%), Bauhaus (+59,81% | +59,52%), Shein (+23,37%| +121,12%), Rewe (+50,06% | +33,38%), Tchibo (+54,33% | +7,90%), Shop-Apotheke (+51,06% | +45,65%) und Ikea (+49,48% | +66,48%).
The five biggest absolute winners are Otto (358,51), Zalando (315,14), Apple (314,13), Obi (206,05), and Media Markt (153,03).
The niche store Auragentum records the most spectacular visibility development of the top 50 companies. This may be due to the ongoing pandemic and gold as a safe asset. However, the niche store Auragentum, as well as the Chinese online retailer Shein remains hardly relevant with an absolutely low visibility in the German SEO area. Nevertheless, the continued strong growth of Shein indicates that the Chinese online retailer will increasingly gain a foothold in our country in the coming years. Shein uses special online and app marketing for customer retention to increase their market share in the competitive apparel segment. For example, customers can generate discounts for purchases through gamification but also by scrolling through the shopping app. This aggressive discount policy in the already low price segment causes sales to rise quickly; Shein was able to record a 38% increase in sales compared to the previous year.
[Sales for Shein reported by EHI and Statista as Statista analysis based on secondary sources].
Tchibo stands out due to its strong growth in visibility for desktop. This growth brings Tchibo out of the low in which it was stuck in the first half of 2021. Currently, Tchibo has recovered in the desktop area and leveled off at the previous level. No current growth trends are foreseeable here.
Positive growth is evident in the home & living segment. Both Ikea and Home24 are posting significant gains, and Wayfair and XXXLutz are also showing a positive trend. However, the visibility development for hardware stores is particularly striking; Bauhaus (+59.81% | +59.52%) and Obi (+45.22% | +38.43%) have made significant gains for both desktop and mobile, and Hornbach doesn't have to hide either with approx. 10% growth. Obi is even the fourth most visible company in the top 50 in terms of absolute visibility.
The additional significant sales gains from both the furniture and household goods segments and from hardware stores can be directly attributed to the pandemic. The first pandemic year (sales refer to 2020) was characterized by lockdowns and travel restrictions, many households investing their money in their own homes. However, this trend seems to have solidified, as the visibility gains in the past year shown above are clear-cut.
The pandemic is clearly driving Quick Commerce concepts. In the top 50 e-commerce companies with the highest sales, only the two food suppliers Rewe and Flaschenpost are initially included for the sales year 2020. For the upcoming analysis, we expect to see more players from this sector, as online grocery sales are up 47.1% year-over-year in 2021 [source BEVH].
Rewe (+50.06% | +33.38%) is also one of the clear winners of this SEO analysis this year, while Flaschenpost is one of the clear losers (-12.73% | -27.50%). Rewe's visibility index has been rising steadily since the beginning of the pandemic, this is a very clear trend towards more positive development. Flaschenpost, on the other hand, seems to be subject to a certain seasonal effect, with visibility dropping significantly in the summer months of the past two years, only to jump up again in the fall. It is possible, therefore, that this year Flaschenpost is already early in the seasonal downturn phase, which may explain the poor visibility development. We will be able to judge whether this is a seasonal or permanent downturn in the coming year.
Esprit (-44.39% | -20.51%), Eis.de (-43.16% | -44.91%), Degussa (-33.11% | -24.97%), DocMorris (-27.41% | -31.13%), Baur (-20.56% | -18.03%), Bonprix (-26.04% | -34.52%) and Saturn (-18.72% | -23.57%) suffer the biggest losses.
A clear trend reversal can be identified; Eis.de and Baur were still among the winners in the analysis last year. The previous year's losers, on the other hand, were all able to record visibility gains this year.
Esprit stands out as one of the biggest losers in this analysis. The visibility development is repeatedly negative, a trend that seems to be unstoppable since 2019. Esprit also has to absorb a significant drop in sales in 2020 of -13% in the analysis by EHI and Statista, and in the overall ranking Esprit has slipped from 27th to 48th place in the top 50. Whether we will still talk about Esprit in the top 50 in our analysis next year is questionable.
[The sales for Esprit are reported by EHI and Statista as a Statista analysis based on company data.]
Baur, on the other hand, can report adjusted visibility growth and only appears in this loser list because there was a high plateau in the observation period last year.
The negative visibility developments at Eis.de, Degussa and Bonprix were triggered by the Google Spam Update in June 2021 and the Google Core Update in July 2021. The downward trend has continued for all three companies and there is no recovery in sight.
In consumer electronics, numerous losers can be identified for this SEO analysis. Only Apple (+17.48% | +8.11%) and Mindfactory (+27.28% | +22.26%) were able to defy this. Saturn, Alternate, Cyberport and also Conrad have to accept significant losses. Notebooksbilliger not only loses significant visibility, but also has to cope with a drop in sales of -6%. Lastly, Media Markt is able to post minimal gains in the desktop segment, but also losses on mobile.
[EHI and Statista report the sales for Notebooksbilliger as a Statista analysis based on company data.]
Let us take a closer look at Media Markt and Saturn in the consumer electronics sector: Their sales from online retail have exploded in the first pandemic year. Saturn's e-commerce sales increased by +72% and Media Markt's by +57% [2020 sales figures correspond to the EHI Retail Institute's company survey in each case]. Despite the high online sales, neither player was able to improve in terms of visibility. Media Markt can still realize small visibility gains (+1.42%), but Saturn has significant losses (-18.72%). It can be assumed that the increasingly similar content of both companies in their online presences will continue to be penalized by Google after the merger in 2020.
The trend away from mobile sites continues: Only three of the 52 online stores considered still rely on their own mobile site (scheme m.domain.tld). Thomann switched to a responsive design over the past year. Only AboutYou, Shein and Notebooksbilliger are still holding on to their mobile sites. Where AboutYou (+12.93%) and Shein (+121.12%) can still show significant mobile visibility gains, Notebooksbilliger (-12.2%) is clearly penalized the second year in a row. We can be curious to see how long it will take the last companies to make the switch.
The development of the company's own shopping apps also remains exciting: 39 out of 50 online stores currently have their own shopping app. The 39 shopping apps in the app store, measured by the significant increase in submitted ratings for the apps in the App Store, show a growing frequency and thus importance for online retail. Only a few of the top 50 companies with the highest sales are still not represented in the major app stores with their own shopping app: Apple, Alternate, Conrad, Mindfactory, Auragentum, Obi, Edelmetall-Handel, Degussa, Eis.de, Bauhaus and XXXLutz.
By the way, of the seven companies that are no longer among the top 50 top-selling online shops this year, five do not have their own shopping app...
Amazon (Amazon.de except Amazon.com) lost for desktop and gained almost equivalently for mobile (-4.69% | +4.97%) in the period under review. This trend is not exciting as far as it goes.
However, if the absolute visibility of Amazon is considered in comparison with the overall visibility of all top 50 top-sales companies, something remarkable can be observed: Last year, Amazon had significantly stronger visibility than all the top 50 companies combined (Amazon 3030 vs. top 50 2367), this has reversed this year. The top 50 top-selling online shops have not only caught up with an absolute visibility of 3015, but have significantly overtaken Amazon with an absolute visibility of 2897. Mobile, the top 50 cannot overtake Amazon (mobile: Amazon 2855 vs. top 50 2767), but the top 50 can also show significant total visibility gains of +10.6% year-over-year here.
The increased overall visibility of the Top 50 companies scratches Amazon's market power. Of course, it is still not possible to speak of a heterogeneous market, but the top 50 can clearly increase their relevance.
Since the analysis is based on the EHI rating of the stores with the highest sales in 2021 and this deals with the company data from 2020, a lot has happened in the meantime. The turnover with goods in e-commerce increased to €99.1 billion in 2021 after €83.3 billion in 2020, which corresponds to a growth of 19% compared to the previous year. Therefore, the upcoming sales analysis (expected from Statista and EHI in October) will bring some exciting developments and positive overall growth. We expect new players in the grocery / quick commerce sector in the top 50 to be particularly exciting. In addition, the SEO analysis will be able to provide the first indications in a year's time of how the current strong rise in inflation is affecting online purchasing behavior.
