Surging Online Sales
The German Association of e-commerce says that consumers spent around 17.36 billion euros on online purchases in the second quarter of 2019 – that was 11.3 percent more than in the same period in 2018.
Industries / Consumer Industries & Corporate Services
You Say You Want a Revolut
London-based challenger bank Revolut is opening a new tech hub in Berlin. Around 80 people will be employed there, including software engineers, data scientists, product managers and marketing experts.
Valuable Vegetables
Fruit and vegetables don’t get any fresher than when they’re still growing. That’s the idea behind the hot Berlin start-up Infarm, which has come up with a technique to grow and not just sell fresh produce in supermarkets.
Interprint Sale
Japan’s Toppan Printing is bidding to buy the western German interior décor producer Interprint. Subject to approval by Germany’s Federal Cartel Office the sale should go through by the end of 2019. The Tokyo company was attracted by Interprint’s tradition and solidity.
Property Platform
Hamburg fintech start-up Exporo hosts a digital platform for property investments and aims to make this sector accessible to small investors. “We want to change the way you invest in property,” Exporo CEO Simon Brunke says.
More and More Mail Order in Germany
Germans love to shop, but increasingly they prefer doing so without actually going to stores.
Going Cashless
German consumers can be fairly conservative, but they’re now catching on to the advantages of paying for purchases without physical money.
Great Games
The 2019 Game of the Year Award for German language board and card games has gone to “Just One” by Ludovic Roudy und Bruno Sautter.
Intoxicating Innovation
Germany’s second largest beer producer Oettinger has come up with a beer mixed drink using hemp. With an ABV of only 2.5 percent, it contains beer, green tea and herbal extracts, and THC.
Trade up Your Tractor
A Hamburg-based start-up, E-Farm, now active on four continents, has developed a mobile app and online platform that makes it easy to advertise, search for, and purchase a wide range of second-hand farm machinery.
