BERLIN — German retail bankruptcies are nearing record highs as 2,490 shops and chains filed for insolvency between August 2024 and August 2025, the highest level since 2016, credit insurer Allianz Trade said in a new analysis, Dec. 4, 2025. The insurer said German retail bankruptcies are being driven by a mix of weak consumer demand, high financing and energy costs, and fierce competition from online marketplaces that many smaller retailers cannot match.
German retail bankruptcies surge toward the highest level since 2016
The latest wave of German retail bankruptcies has pushed insolvencies in the sector to their highest level in nearly a decade, with well-known names such as Görtz, Gerry Weber, Wormland and Esprit among the casualties, while chains like Depot and Kodi have sharply cut store networks. Allianz Trade’s data show the annual growth rate in retail insolvencies eased to about 13% in August 2025 from 20% earlier in the year, suggesting a slightly less frantic pace even as the overall number remains elevated. A recent WELT report based on Allianz Trade figures underscores how deeply the shakeout is reshaping Germany’s shopping streets.
Analysts say German retail bankruptcies are the retail-sector expression of a broader insolvency wave that has built up since pandemic-era support and ultra-low interest rates faded. Germany recorded 4,215 company insolvencies in the fourth quarter of 2024, the highest level since the 2009 financial crisis, as higher borrowing costs and rising wages exposed weak balance sheets across sectors.
Years of pressure set the stage for today’s retail shakeout.
Allianz Trade had already warned in 2023 that business failures were accelerating faster than at any time since the global financial crisis, noting that German bankruptcies surged at the end of 2022 and were expected to rise further in 2023 and 2024. In that earlier period, construction, wholesale trade and transport were seen as especially vulnerable, but the stress has since shifted more visibly onto the consumer-facing high street, where German retail bankruptcies are now clustered.
By mid-2024, large corporate insolvencies in Germany had reached a record high, jumping 37% year-on-year to 40 major failures, with construction and retail together accounting for almost half of the cases, according to Allianz Trade. Those big collapses, highlighted in a 2024 Commercial Risk Online analysis, rippled down supply chains, squeezing smaller suppliers and speciality retailers that lacked the cash buffers to survive delayed payments or sudden order cancellations.
German retail bankruptcies also reflect a structural shift that accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when shoppers migrated online and did not fully return. Allianz Trade points to a “David versus Goliath” struggle in which smaller brick-and-mortar retailers struggle to fund the digital platforms, logistics and marketing needed to compete with large platforms and international brands, especially in fashion, footwear and home goods.
Outlook: more failures, but a slower pace of collapse
Looking ahead, Allianz Trade expects the overall number of business insolvencies in Germany to rise 11% in 2025 to about 24,400 cases and then climb further to roughly 25,050 in 2026, citing tariff uncertainty and a sluggish economy. Those projections, detailed in a June 2025 briefing from Anadolu Agency, suggest that while the peak speed of the insolvency wave may be past, German retail bankruptcies are likely to stay high as weaker players continue to exit the market.
Earlier Allianz Trade research, including its 2023 note on bankruptcies rising faster than at any time since 2008, framed 2023 and 2024 as “lost years” for German industry, with forecasts for business failures exceeding pre-pandemic norms. That bleak picture has since spilt directly into the retail sector, making German retail bankruptcies a key barometer of how prolonged economic pressure is reshaping Europe’s largest consumer market.
Weak shoppers deepen the squeeze.
The latest insolvency data comes as German shoppers grow more cautious. Consumer sentiment fell to 95.2 points in December from 95.6 in November, with 70% of retailers in a national survey reporting fewer customers at the start of the crucial Christmas season. In a recent Reuters report, the German Retail Association described 2025 as “a lost year” for consumer recovery, underscoring how fragile demand remains, just as many chains need higher sales to service more expensive debt.
For now, German retail bankruptcies show little sign of returning quickly to pre-crisis levels. Allianz Trade expects further consolidation, with financially stronger brands investing in omnichannel strategies and renegotiated rents, while independent and mid-sized retailers without access to fresh capital may continue to disappear from secondary high streets and smaller towns. The pace of closures may slow, but the map of German retail is set to look very different by the time the current shakeout has run its course.
That trajectory aligns with warnings issued over the past two years, including Allianz Trade’s early alerts that bankruptcies were climbing rapidly and that the German economy faced persistent headwinds. A detailed Allianz Trade study on rising German bankruptcies and subsequent sector reports have repeatedly highlighted how structural change, tighter financing conditions and subdued consumption are converging — leaving German retail bankruptcies as a visible sign of deeper economic strain.
Even if inflation moderates and interest rates ease, experts say the damage from years of accumulated stress will not be reversed quickly. For many smaller chains and family-run shops, the current wave of German retail bankruptcies marks not just a cyclical downturn but the end of a business model that can no longer keep pace with Europe’s new retail landscape.
