Do you buy at the local specialty store or do you order online?

I know both in our company. Online retail and brick-and-mortar store. Amazon and eBay fees are pretty steep percentage-wise, you're right, and then the money isn't even taxed here. That's why I prefer to shop online through regular online stores.

I see personnel costs a bit differently. It's not without reason that Amazon doesn't want to be classified as retail in the collective agreement but rather as warehousing. Consultation takes time. However, most of online retail happens without consultation.

As an online retailer, you may have more in stock and therefore a larger warehouse, but also more turnover. Take a look at the huge furniture stores and think about what you could store on the same space.

It is not without reason that Amazon does not want to be classified as retail in the collective agreement, but rather as warehousing.

This is already evident from the fact that Amazon is more of a logistics company. Just look at OTTO Versand and Hermes. OTTO itself probably consists of a few "qualified" minds. However, the majority of the work has been outsourced to Hermes.

Take a look at the huge furniture stores and consider what you could store on the same area.

And yet most items have to be ordered with sometimes extremely long delivery times.

I see personnel costs somewhat differently. It is no coincidence that Amazon does not want to be classified under retail in the collective agreement, but rather under warehouse logistics. Consulting takes time. However, the majority of online retail happens without consulting.

That is, of course, very industry-dependent. But especially in the furniture trade, I see it myself, as we have a furniture store in the family. People get advice in the stores and then buy cheap online. Anyone who is not online themselves there is stupid.

As an online retailer, you may have more stock and therefore a larger warehouse, but also more turnover. Just look at the huge furniture stores and consider what you could store on the same space.

Somewhere the advantage of online retail has to lie, otherwise no one would do it. Of course, that is the huge sales market.

This is already due to the fact that Amazon is more of a logistics company. Just take OTTO Versand and Hermes. OTTO itself will consist of only a few "qualified" minds. The majority of the work, however, has been outsourced to Hermes.

Well, it depends on how you define few. For OTTO (without Hermes), alone 4,500 people work there. The IT department alone has about 600 people and costs a triple-digit million amount per year. But it also makes no sense to compare a retail giant with a specialty store.

... the specialist trade partly has higher purchase prices than online retailers' selling prices. Karsten

I have to say that many online retailers are specialist dealers. I have all the professional qualifications in my industry. It is certainly the same, for example, in the building materials trade. The window and door suppliers are all experts. You can't sell something you don't know about. Even with socks, you have to be knowledgeable. Otherwise, you'll be out of the picture very quickly. The mass China sellers are only good as long as the stuff is rated well on Amazon. If it doesn't hold up -> goodbye...

The most clever thing is to combine brick-and-mortar and online retail. Just wait and see what will happen in the future. I work in IT and deal with things like this, just on a different scale. A lot is still coming our way. Amazon is leading the way, but there are also various German retailers who have big plans.

Right now, I’m dealing with the situation for my own home—the prices offered by specialist dealers for air conditioners are unbelievably high. A unit that can be found online for 2,000 EUR costs more than 3,500 EUR locally... and then there are small parts and installation on top of that, and altogether you end up paying over 5,000 EUR for an air conditioner. I’m buying the unit myself now and saving 1,300 EUR... I’m giving 200 EUR of my original 1,500 EUR savings to the technician to compensate for the "loss of earnings" from the air conditioner. But only because I have been completely satisfied with him so far.

If I had also bought the small parts (wiring, etc.) myself, the savings would have been over 2,000 EUR, but I didn’t feel like dealing with the topic any longer. Even so, way too much time went into it.