AO World shuts up shop in Germany

AO WORLD is shutting its German business after eight years to focus on the UK market.

The online electricals retailer said it decided the move is the ‘best course of action’ after a strategic review launched in January, and warned that the closure will cost it up to £15m.

AO found the German arm had been knocked by ‘an intensifying competitive landscape, as customers have returned to pre-pandemic levels of online shopping, a substantial increase in digital marketing costs, and a constrained supply chain’.

AO will focus solely on the UK electricals market at a time when consumer spending on big items is beginning to falter amid general belttightening in the face of soaring prices.