In an excerpt from the recently published RetailX Germany100 360 Report, we find that German consumers are embracing the idea of regular deliveries of both essential everyday items and luxuries.
Driven by a combination of digitalisation, changes in consumer behaviour and innovative offerings by both startups and established businesses, the subscriptions market in Germany is growing. The pandemic also played a part as companies such as the German meal-kit company HelloFresh enjoyed a boost due to housebound consumers looking for new ways to spend their money.
According to Juniper Research, the global subscriptions market will be worth $1.2tn by 2030, up from $722bn in 2025. This will be driven in great part by consumers in developed nations such as Germany, where there is the digital, financial and logistical infrastructure to support subscription businesses.
When ConsumerX conducted research into this area, 57% of respondents said they had a paid subscription. Before moving on, it’s worth noting this figure includes those with music-streaming or video-streaming subscriptions rather than, for instance, taking regular deliveries of physical goods. Nevertheless, one in ten respondents said they subscribed to a beauty or cosmetics box scheme, making this category slightly more popular than clothing and/or footwear boxes, where the equivalent figure was 9%, food boxes (7%) and accessories boxes (6%).
81% of respondents say they receive free deliveries as a result of having a subscription, while 66% of respondents get speedy deliveries. It’s worth noting that Prime subscriptions may skew the figures here. 14% of respondents receive regular deliveries of groceries and 13% receive regular deliveries of drinks.
Why do consumers opt for subscriptions?
There’s a variety of reasons, depending on what benefit consumers value when it comes to any particular service. For those respondents paying an annual delivery payment, for instance, value for money is a key consideration, cited by 48% of respondents as a reason for subscribing, ahead of convenience and access to discounts, where the equivalent figure was 16%. Again, it may be that many of the respondents here are Prime customers who pay an annual fee for speedy delivery.
There is also evidence that concern over the environment is growing among German consumers when it comes to the food sector. 31% of those who have subscribed to food boxes do so because of environmental concerns, at least in part reflecting the growth in organic food offerings delivered via a subscription model and/or, because food miles are a growing concern for consumers, by local businesses.
Among German retail subscription businesses, Outfittery, founded by Julia Bösch, who previously worked at Zalando, offers a personal shopping service. Yfood sells ready-to-drink and powdered meal replacement products. Vegdog is among the more intriguing German startups, offering plant-based dog food and reaching €10mn in sales in 2024, an increase of 66% over the previous year. “Our vision is a world in which healthy dog nutrition is no longer at the expense of other animals or the environment,” co-CEO Valerie Henssen has noted. “The bigger Vegdog is, the greater our impact on dog health and animal welfare.” The company recently secured €9mn to fund its expansion.
This feature was first published in the RetailX Germany100 360 Report.
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