In 2025, German retail generated a 2.7 % increase in real sales and a 3.8 % rise in nominal sales compared with 2024, surpassing the 0.3‑percentage‑point estimate released earlier in the year by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
During the first half of the year, real sales grew 3.8 % year‑on‑year, a sharp improvement over the 1.7 % gain recorded in the second half. That first‑half acceleration was largely driven by a one‑off effect: the restructuring of a major internet‑ and mail‑order retailer, announced in August 2024, added previously untracked revenue to the data set.
Compared with 2021-when retail revenue hit the highest level since the series began in 1994-real sales in 2025 were 0.1 % lower, while nominal sales were 17.3 % higher.
Breakdowns by category show that food retail sales were up 1.1 % real and 3.4 % nominal, whereas non‑food retail saw a 3.7 % real and 4.1 % nominal increase. Online and mail‑order retail, boosted by the same restructuring event, rose 10.1 % real and about 10 % nominal.
The holiday period in December was strong: overall retail achieved 3.2 % real and 3.5 % nominal growth versus December 2024. When adjusted for calendar and seasonal effects, the increase was 1.5 % real and 1.7 % nominal. However, compared with the peak December 2021, December 2025 sales were 4.0 % lower in real terms; December 2024 had generated real sales 7.0 % below those of December 2021.
Looking at month‑to‑month figures, December 2025 saw a calendar‑adjusted real sales rise of 0.1 % and a nominal decline of 0.1 % over November 2025. In November relative to October, real sales fell 0.5 % (the preliminary figure had been -0.6 %) and nominal sales dropped 0.9 % (vs a provisional -1.1 %).
Within food retail, December sales were 2.5 % higher real and 3.5 % higher nominal than in December 2024 after seasonal adjustments; against November, the increases were 1.5 % real and 1.2 % nominal. Non‑food retail, by contrast, posted a 0.7 % real and 0.5 % nominal rise over December 2024, but declined 1.2 % real and 1.6 % nominal relative to November.
Online and mail‑order retail fell 2.3 % real and 3.3 % nominal in December versus the same month in 2024, and dropped 4.2 % real and 4.8 % nominal compared with November.
