Good news for consumers and bad news for merchants are two-digit price drops for high-tech products. Thus, since July 2007 prices for mobile phones and digital cameras decreased by 14% and 16% respectively and for notebooks even by 25%. In the meantime in Germany prices for high-quality electronic products such as computers, flat screen tvs or mobile phones are 5% below the European average. The lowest prices for high-tech products can be found in Bulgaria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. more…

According to calculations by the Federal Statistical Office the German industry received 1.7% less orders in July as compared to June this year. In June the drop had been even bigger with the number of orders falling by 2.6%. The percentage of major orders was even quite high in July. The decline is due to less demand from within Germany. While foreign demand increased slightly by 0.3% domestic orders were down by 3.6%. more…

The “online-marketing-düsseldorf 2008” exhibition will take place on September 17th and 18th and ist mission is to show visitors the entire world of digital marketing. According to the organizers, more than 380 exhibitors have already registered to take part. The number of exhibitors has already more than doubled in comparison with last year. The exhibition offers three halls and covers all aspects of digital marketing. Therefore it is a very important exhibition for experts from Germany and abroad. more…

In July this year production costs in industry increased by 1.1% as compared to June in the EU15. In the EU27 this increase was 0.9%. For both these regions the increases are smaller than those of the previous month (+1.0% and +1.4% respectively). As compared to July 2006 production costs increased by 9.0% in the Eurozone and by 11.0% in the EU27. These figures were recently published by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). more…

The German retail trade generated 3.1% more turnover in nominal terms in July 2008 as compared to July 2007. In real terms turnover did not change even though there was one more shopping day in July this year. In comparison to June this year turnover fell by 1.3% (in nominal terms) and 1.5% (really) in July. These figures are based on provisional calculations by the Federal Statistical Office. more…

In 2007 the number of cases of pishing fraud in online banking increased as never before by 25%. This is the finding of a projection by the German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New media (BITKOM). In the whole of Germany criminals in more than 4100 cases withdraw approximately 19 million Euros from the accounts of their victims. This means that the damage caused increased by 25% as compared to the year 2006. According to regional police authorities most victims were registered in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Berlin. more…

In the Eurozone (EZ15) unemployment stood at 7.3% (adjusted for season) in July which is the same rate as in June. Thus, the rate in the Eurozone was exactly as high as German unemployment. One year ago the rate in the Eurozone was 7.4%. In the EU27 unemployment did also not change in July as compared to June and amounted to 6.8% which is 0.3 percent less than in July 2007. more…

According to estimates by Eurostat, the European Statistical Office, the inflation rate in the Eurozone slightly fell in August to 3.8%. Even though this is still quite high a rate, it is nevertheless lower than the 4.0% registered in July and June. In the opinion of some experts, this could be a signal of inflation having peaked and returning to a more moderate rate.

The order intake by German mechanical and plant engineering was down by 8% in real terms in July this year as compared to July 2007. The number of orders from within Germany fell by 1% and that from abroad by 11%. Taking into account the period from May to July 2008 the decrease amounted to 8% as compared to the same period last year with domestic and foreign demand falling by 4% and 10% respectively. These figures were recently published by the association for German mechanical and plant engineering (VDMA). more…