BERLIN, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The retail sector in Germany is continuing to perform well with online trading driving its growth, a study by the German retail association (HDE) published on Thursday showed.
An increasing number of stationary retail firms are profiting from their own online shops or from sales via online platforms like eBay or Amazon, the study said.
"Many small businesses consider online stores as an opportunity to generate additional revenue," Stefan Hertel, spokesman of HDE, told Xinhua.
Turnover in the retail sector rose nominally by almost 3 percent in the first half of the year. HDE reaffirmed its sales forecast of more than 2 percent for 2018.
Accordingly, the total revenue generated by the retail industry will increase by 2 percent to over 520 billion euros (612.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018.
Stationary sales will grow by a nominal 1.2 percent while online sales will rise by 10 percent.
The study also found that a quarter of stationary retailers are now selling their products via in-house online shops.
"Nearly two thirds of the companies expect online revenues to rise in the current year," said Stefan Genth, managing director of HDE.
