13 million Germans (21%) between 16 and 74 years of age sold goods or services online in 2007. Back in 2004 this number had been 9 million (14%). The German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) published the above figures and expect the number of German online sellers to increase to 14 million this year. According to BITKOM, many Germans sell high-quality or rare products over the internet. In Europe Germans are only surpassed by people from Denmark with regard to their online selling activities.
Thus, in Denmark 22% of the total population in the age group of 16 to 74 years use the internet as a selling platform. Third in this respect are the Dutch with 20%. In the rest of the EU about 10% of the population use the internet for selling products and services. In Austria this number amounts to just 7%. The internet is less used for selling purposes in the south of Europe and the Baltic States. The above figures are based on data provided by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). 