Already grossing €30 billion, Internet services like e-commerce or social networks are now the strongest revenue earners of the entire German Internet industry. In the coming three years, they will grow annually by more than ten percent respectively, so that by the year 2016 their volume is estimated to reach 41 billion euros. The largest portion of this is the e-commerce segment, with 28.4 billion euros. This is one finding from the recent study by the Association of the German Internet Industry, eco, and the business consultancy Arthur D. Little.Digital purchases, payment and advertising make up the largest share of the market for the German Internet industry: More than 49 percent of the economic performance is generated in this area. According to the forecast from eco and ADL, the total volume of this segment will grow to 41.2 billion euros in 2016. Central to this is the role of e-commerce. With around 21.7 billion euros, this portion of the industry is already responsible for more than two thirds of the total revenues from end-customer oriented services.
http://international.eco.de/2013/news/internet-boom-e-commerce-growing-yearly-by-more-than-ten-percent.html