North German retail is suffering: decline in sales unsettles traders!
North German retail is suffering: decline in sales unsettles traders!
Norddeutschland, Deutschland - The economic mood in northern Germany is tense. According to the latest results of a survey by the AGA corporate association, almost half of the dealers and service providers are fighting with falling sales in the second quarter of 2025. In particular, retail is shown in the current economic survey as a problem child, final numbers of older quarters, such as the fourth quarter 2024, show the difficult location. At that time, 52 percent of the companies surveyed reported a decline in sales and 44 percent reported a sunken demand.
The current statistics speak a clear language: The AGA indicator for the second quarter of 2025 fell on a modest 90.3 points, followed by a dramatic slump in wholesale and foreign trade, which has reached the lowest level since the second quarter of 2020. The retail sector can also not boast with 74.1 points, which results in a significant decline in 86.7 points in the previous quarter, as the food practice reported.
rising costs and falling demand
Also alarming are the feedback regarding the total costs of companies, which rose in 78 percent of the companies surveyed in the fourth quarter of 2024. This development goes hand in hand with a dampening outlook on the first half of 2025, whereby 29 percent of companies assuming a decline in sales. As has already been determined in previous surveys, bureaucracy, with 38 percent, is the greatest obstacle to added value. 36 percent of companies as a further disruptive factor, which judges the creation of values on average by 10.4 Percent reduced.
The AGA President Hans Fabian Kruse warns that politics urgently needs to act in order to provide relief and incentives for investments. More than half of the companies, 54 percent, plan a strong investment in environmental and energy expansion. However, the need for investments is there, and yet the planning remains: 54 percent of companies intend to invest in the same extent in the coming year, while 32 percent even expect the investment volume.
profit situation and future prospects
As far as the profit situation is concerned, the situation is also challenging. In 51 percent of the respondents, a constant profit is expected, while 41 percent expect a decline. This is in stark contrast to the 13 percent of companies that rate their profits as good. In the company of the service sector, the AGA indicator is 118.5 points, which remains relatively stable between the previous quartals.
Personnel planning also reflects the uncertainties. 24 percent of the companies plan to increase the number of their employees, while 60 percent want to keep the current workforce. It looks similar with the trainees: 17 percent intend to increase, while 64 percent want to leave the number the same and 19 percent rather want to hire fewer new trainees.
The results come from the economy test of the AGA Bundesverband, which was carried out between June 5 and July 4, 2025. Although the overall situation for wholesale and foreign trade with annual turnover of 288 billion euros is anything but rosy, the hope that companies can master the upcoming challenges with a good knack for investments and strategy, as well as the aga and DetailsOrt Norddeutschland, Deutschland Quellen
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