‘Clicks & Mortar’ Consumer Durable Sales Increase in Europe 14/11/00 According to GfK, online sales of ‘clicks & mortar’ consumer durables are currently growing in Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain more than twice as quickly as those of suppliers who offer their products exclusively on the Internet. It is predicted that by the end of 2000, the online sales volume of ‘clicks & mortar’ suppliers, (i.e. who sell both online and through physical stores) will have outstripped that of purely e-business operators. According to a study carried out by GfK Marketing Services, ‘clicks & mortar’ companies, specialising in consumer goods relating to audio systems, IT, electrical household appliances, photography and telecommunications, increased their online sales by 167% between February and July 2000, as compared with the same period last year. By contrast, sales figures of pure e-business suppliers increased by only 71%. The online sales success of traditional retailers shows that price is not the decisive factor when it comes to Internet purchasing. As a rule, goods are offered at the same price on the Internet as in the shops. The prices of pure e-business traders tend, in comparison, to be lower. Up by 261%, entertainment electronics on the Web is the fastest growing market segment, followed by the photographic equipment segment, which increased by 239%. In general, it is the entertainment systems segment that is enjoying the most dynamic growth. At present, sales in this sector represents 27% of all consumer goods sold online. This is roughly equivalent to the share of entertainment electronics of the total market for consumer durables in conventional shops. With 80% of all Internet-generated sales of entertainment electronics being handled by ‘clicks & mortar’ suppliers, they have a far more important role than pure online traders. For example, their share in photographic retail sales amounts to 70%, whereas for IT products, the figure is only 40%. According to GfK, Germany remains number one in e-business in terms of consumer durables, followed by the UK and France.