Comprising 730,000 companies and a payroll of Euro 4.4 million in Germany, commerce is one of the economic sectors in the country with proportionally more employees than any other branch. Almost 13% of the total workforce is employed in this sector. Despite the considerable trends to downsizing, commerce is still well and truly in the hands of SMEs, with seven out of ten companies having less than six employees.

Sales in commerce amount to more than Euro 1 trillion. In the Federal Republic the branch's contribution amounts to between 9 and 10% of gross value added. In terms of commerce in the European Union as a whole, the share of German commercial companies amounts to around 20%.