Internet Retailer reports that Germans have been slow among other European peoples to embrace e-commerce, spending about 17 percent less than the average Continental. Forrester Research points out that Germans upped their spending by about 26 percent over three years, not a stunning growth rate. Europeans generally saw e-commerce grow 35 percent over that period.

Germany has one of the most highly regulated retail environments, with many types of shops required to keep only certain hours in an effort to force a more relaxed lifestyle. This regimentation of buying patterns could theoretically work in e-commerce's favor, unless it had the cultural effect of changing the wants of the populace, bringing them more into line with the desired patterns of directed shopping activity at certain hours.

Forrester, on the other hand, chalks up the slowness in e-commerce growth to price sensitivity. Oddly, Germans report that they do not find prices online to be as competitive as other Europeans find. This might have made sense some years ago, before the introduction of the Euro, when Germany's currency was traditionally stronger than that of its neighbors.