German online retailers return to brick-and-mortar stores

BERLIN — The history of modern retailing runs like this: Mom-and-pop shops fall prey to superstores that, in turn, get squeezed out by the international giants of online commerce.

Germany, however, is writing a chapter that is injecting fresh life into main streets and shopping malls around the country.

Struggling to compete with e-commerce global behemoths such as Amazon, Germany’s online retailers are moving back to bricks-and-mortar in order to attract “omni-channel” clients — customers who want to be able to blend the benefits of online browsing with shopping in cool, real-world stores.

Take Helmar Hipp, CEO of Cyberport, a Dresden-based home electronics retailer that boasts an online catalog to rival that of any technology superstore. It recently opened 15 stores across Germany and Austria to offer the discerning customer a high-end shopping experience.

“We like to run our stores like a small fashion boutique that can connect people with the products that are relevant to them,” said Mr. Hipp.

The trend is responding to the needs of clients whose shopping experience could include researching a product online, buying it in-store, returning it through the mail and receiving a different model via a website, said Martin Gersch, an e-commerce professor at Berlin’s Humboldt University.

It’s a model that can help German digital operators poach buyers from American internet leaders, he said.

“There are fields where German online retailers can’t offer lower prices in comparison with companies like Amazon, so they have to compete by offering a better way to purchase items,” said Mr. Gersch. “Many startups find a niche where customers are prepared to pay more and thereby avoid competing directly with industry giants.”

Running flagship real-world locations enables internet-based companies to connect directly with their clients. “It is still important for people to go to the stores, try out new technologies and to become familiar with the brand,” Mr. Gersch said.

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