/diary0009
You are in the company of Roger Warren Evans

The Germans are funny

Saturday 12 January 2002


  The Germans are funny. They are very serious in their approach to commercial matters, including selling techniques. The English Courts have always taken commercial claims lightly, regarding exaggeration and "puff" as part of the rough-and-tumble of the business world, fairground banter not to be subjected to rigorous logical analysis. True, the UK Parliament has intervened by statute to minimise commercial misrepresentation, if with very limited success. But the English courts have consistently refused to take business hype seriously. Even the adoption of business or “trading names” is unregulated in the UK, remaining stubbornly outside the scope of the law.

The German Courts are different. As a young Barrister, I spent the year 1963 in Germany studying German commercial and administrative law. It was a great formative experience. I loved Germany, and my Europeanism was decisively confirmed. But it took me some time to get onto the German legal wavelength, when it came to business regulation. For example, Coca-cola refreshes you best! is a slogan that has served the company well, the world over. But not in Germany. In the late 1950s the Courts, after long and anguished study, concluded that the truth of that slogan could not be confirmed, and ruled its use illegal. For Germany, the Coca Cola Company has ever since had to use the slogan Take a Break! (Mach’ mal Pause) . Take a look, when you are next in Germany.

And this week, C&A offended against the German business code. The German retailers C&A marked the launch of the Euro with a New Year Sales wheeze. In their 184 stores throughout Germany, they offered a discount on all goods bought between 2nd and 5th January – provided that credit/debit cards were used, avoiding cash. 		  The object, C&A said, was to save staff time spent on fiddling with the new currency. see Daily Telegraph report.

The Dusseldorf Commercial Court was not amused. The Court has issued C&A with two written warnings. The discount, the Court said, offended a 1930s statute, which permitted such big discounts only in “closing down” sales or “important anniversary” sales. A more recent 2001 statute permitted discounts of up to 3% on established prices, but not 20%.

This incident reveals a German social and cultural trait which is proving a real source of weakness to the German economy. The German economy, by common consent, is failing to punch its weight, and unemployment remains high. The weakness of the German economy contributes mightily to the weakness of the Euro. The problem is a refusal on the part of the Germans to recognise that, in a consumer economy, retailing has become the lead business sector. Shopping hours are still very limited in Germany. The growth of supermarkets have been restricted by tough local planning laws. Most shops close on Saturday afternoon, and there is no Sunday opening. For the customer, shopping is quite an obstacle course. This all operates to inhibit economic growth, and dampen consumer demand. While the Germans are unlikely to adopt the “shop ‘til you drop” culture of the British and Americans, they will have to loosen up and take retailing – and shopping – much more seriously.

What do you think? Drop me a line.

COPYRIGHT > The originating content of this website is my own work, and subject to my copyright. But on one condition only, I hereby given my consent to its unrestricted reproduction for any purpose: the condition is that its source is subject to proper acknowledgment, giving my name, my assertion of copyright, and the name of this website as it source, namely >
www.warrenevans.net

Back to today's Home Page  

> to Diary Archive