Digital 100

In 2022, the German automotive industry was focused on second-hand, used cars. Consumers acquired not only pre-owned and damaged automobiles from sites such as copart.com (+64.2%) and aldcarmarket.com (+23.5%), but also bought used actively searched for and purchased auto parts from sites like b-parts.com (+50.3%).

On our list of the fastest-growing beauty websites, my-origines.com, cultbeauty.com, dm.at, and purish.com have seen YoY traffic growth of 110%, 35%, 35%, and 23%, respectively. In terms of organic search, the most sought-after skincare brands on these sites were Acnemy, Transparent Lab, Geek and Gorgeous, and Glow Recipe.

Victronenergy.com, a website that offers Inverter/chargers, batteries, and solar panels, was the fastest-growing electronics website of 2022, having seen a 276% increase in year-over-year (YoY) traffic. Anker.com, which specializes in portable power stations and solar generators, also experienced a 27% YoY growth. This surge in demand, since the fall of 2022, is likely due to Germans looking to save money on their energy bills by investing in alternative energy sources, but also preparing for potentiel blackouts.

The top 10 sites in the financial industry were mainly regional branches of traditional banking institutions, such as Hanseatic Bank (+58.4%) and Volksbank Raiffeisenbank (+43.4%), indicating a large portion of the market is dominated by classic institutions and there is a low presence of alternative banks or newcomers. However, in 2022, UK-based Barclay's (+242.4%) was the leader of the industry, having moved its services from barclaycard.de to barclays.de, following Brexit, and taking advantage of its new strategic partnership with Amazon.

Of the top 10 domains, four are Ukrainian news sources: pravda.com.ua (540.2% increase), tsn.ua (337.9% increase), ukr.net (248.9% increase), and unian.net (239.4% increase). Since only two of these domains have German or English versions, it is reasonable to assume that the primary interest in these sites comes from Ukrainian and Russian immigrants and refugees residing in Germany. With the War in Ukraine being the main topic on these sites and liveuamap.com, which features a map of the conflict on its front page, also up 2,210%, it is apparent that there is a significant interest in the war in the media.

A large number of domains in our ranking, including worldpay.com (+100.1%), sumup.com (+84.1%), qonto.com (+82.1%), and datatrans.ch (+72.4%), offer payment services to businesses. This trend reflects the ongoing digitalization of small businesses in Germany that has been sustained throughout the pandemic, such as the shift from cash to card payments that Sumup facilitates. Interestingly, companies are investing in their financial systems to meet the increasing demand for ecommerce services and to remain competitive post-pandemic.

The top 10 in the category are mostly ticket sales sites, which shows that the live events industry is recovering. The most popular events in 2022 were Little Simz's tour, Rammstein and Hans Zimmer concerts, and the Kpop Flex festival.

Train travel is a popular option for German vacationers, with interrail.eu and international-bahn.de being the two most popular websites for booking trips. Interrail.eu saw a 304.3% year-on-year (YoY) increase in traffic, indicating that Germans are increasingly opting for train travel, both domestically and abroad: the 9 euros monthly unlimited travel plan, launched by the German government, seems to have enticed customers to opt for rail travel.