Overview
- Allianz Trade counted 2,490 retail insolvencies in Germany between August 2024 and August 2025, the highest level since October 2016 and just under the 2015–2016 record of 2,520.
- The pace of failures has cooled, with August 2025 up 13% year over year versus 20% a year earlier, and Allianz Trade’s Guillaume Dejean expects further consolidation at a slower rate.
- DEC Handelsgesellschaft, operator of Groschen‑Markt, has entered preliminary insolvency proceedings, and provisional administrator Olaf Spiekermann has been appointed.
- Operations continue across 47 stores in Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony‑Anhalt and Brandenburg, with roughly 200 employees and wages secured via insolvency payment funding from December through February.
- Company statements cite consumer caution, rising costs and pressure from price‑aggressive online marketplaces, while EU finance ministers plan tariffs on low‑value parcels from 2026 that could modestly ease competitive strain.