Shopify Brings Integrated Retail Hardware and Payments to Germany to Help Retailers Meet Shifting Consumer Demands

Merchants will benefit from unifying the online and offline shopping experience as the majority of German consumers look to shop in physical stores post-pandemic

Over the past year, brick-and-mortar merchants across the globe have had to radically reinvent the way they do business. The pandemic ushered in a new standard for shopping everywhere, and our research on consumer behavior in Germany reveals that shopper preferences have fundamentally changed as a result. 

For example, in a market where brick-and-mortar retail has remained the dominant preference for consumers, now one in four (26%) of German consumers are likely to use both on- and offline channels for shopping (up from 18% pre-pandemic).* Additional insight from the research reveals increased demand for a commerce approach that unifies the online and offline experience:

• Two thirds of German shoppers said they would like to purchase items in-store and have them shipped to their homes
• 50% reported they would like to buy online and pick up in store
• 69% said they would like to be able to check store inventory online before shopping in-store
• Over half of German shoppers (54%) said they would like physical retail locations to be able to access customers’ online purchasing history 
• The majority of shoppers in Germany also now show an increased appetite for using contactless payment options. 

To help local merchants meet these evolving consumer demands, we’ve expanded our integrated retail hardware for Shopify POS, as well as Shopify Payments for in-person transactions, to retail merchants in Germany. We’re providing merchants with a unified commerce solution that seamlessly marries online and offline channels, and we’re offering more ways to accept in-store payments with our integrated card reader. 

“We are experiencing a fundamental shift in how people shop following the global pandemic,” said Hagen Meischner, Agency & Tech Partnerships Lead, EMEA, Shopify in Germany. “This new retail renaissance is forcing retailers to adapt to new business models as customer expectations for convenience, personalisation, experience, and safety grow. We believe that the future of commerce is everywhere—online, offline and in hybrids of the two.”

Retail in Germany is ripe for innovation: While ecommerce has dramatically grown in popularity over the past year, the majority of Germans would still prefer to shop in-store after the pandemic -- but now with new expectations that bridge the offline and online shopping experience.* Our integrated point-of-sale and in-person payment solution will allow merchants in Germany to meet these new customer expectations by providing a seamless in-store selling experience that integrates with the rest of their business to meet consumers wherever they are. 

​​Learn more about how you can unify your in-store and online sales through Shopify POS here, and check out further information about integrated hardware and payments with Shopify POS here.

*Based on a survey of over 1000 German consumers commissioned by Shopify in cooperation with research institute Angus Reid from June 1 to June 5 2021.