Retail Trade : Germany

The retail trade has undergone a profound structural change in recent decades. Especially the advancement of self-service, which began in grocery stores, opened the door to extensive rationalization. New types of operations such as discount stores and hypermarkets came into being. Competition has thus become even greater and profit margins have shrunk accordingly - all to the advantage of the consumer, who enjoys low prices and a wide selection of goods.

In 1949, turnover in the retail trade totaled DM 28 billion. In 1996 it was about DM 580 billion (not including pharmacies, filling stations and motor vehicle dealerships, and without value-added tax). The approximately 390,000 retailers in Germany have a work force of about 2.9 million. For the past four years turnover has stagnated, and as a consequence about one percent of the jobs in the retail trade were eliminated in 1996. The number of full-time employees declined by 2.7 percent over the figure for 1995, whereas the number of part-time employees increased by 1.6 percent. Just under 40 percent of the. people employed in the German retail trade work part-time.There are about 60,000 commercial agents and brokers in Germany who together employ well over 135,000. The approximately 55,000 motor vehicle dealerships and filling stations employ more than 520,000.