Online Marketing Opportunities Beyond the general promise of the German market, the prospects for marketing products online in Germany through emarketing and ecommerce are even more impressive. According to internetworldstats.com, Germany already has 53.2 million internet users (13 million more than the UK, the next EU state) at a penetration rate of 65%, and accounts for 20% of total internet use in all of Europe. Despite a slightly smaller internet use growth rate, at 122% since 2000, Germany should continue to have the largest European internet community for years to come. These figures become even more important for potential business to business (B2B) marketers, as close to 99% of all German businesses are now online. Ecommerce has also taken off in Germany, and research institute Horizont expects that ecommerce levels will triple in the State in the next two years. Germany is home to the most online consumers in Europe, and by 2011 it is predicted that some 43 million Germans will buy online, about half the entire population. However, despite the large number of potential internet buyers, Germany still lags behind the UK with respect to total retail value of online purchases. German buyers spend less online than net shoppers in the rest of Europe, due to their price-sensitive nature and historical disillusion with credit cards and borrowing in general.

Search Engine Profile The search engine market share in Germany mirrors that of much of the world, with the regional version of Google, google.de, the leading SE cornering just under 90% of the entire search market. Yahoo.de follows with 3.4% of the market. Smaller local search engines such as Abacho, Fixx, and Fireball, among others, also get play in the German market. Even though English is widely spoke in Germany, 99% of Germans still conduct initial searches in their native language, so having content in German is key to reaching German consumers.

Summary With the largest online population in Europe, the highest purchasing power in the European Union, improving regulatory and tariff trends, and favorable exchange rates, despite its challenges, Germany provides an excellent opportunity for online marketing. For these reasons, GLOBALeMARKETER.com gives Germany a Tier 1 rating for global online marketing.

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