Despite Germany being the third larger exporter in the world, I have not once seen German products on online retail sites such as Amazon.com, NewEgg, BestBuy, or any retailer in the US really. Why is this the case? Amazon in particular is plagued with Chinese counterfeits, so why haven't market forces led to the appearance of an Amazon alternative, focused on original German (or Japanese) products, for customers that are more quality-sensitive than price-sensitive?
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7$\begingroup$ Not all products are available on amazon or even retail stores. Germany is famous for their engeneers. So you see them producing cars and machinery, not so much classical retail goods: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exports_of_Germany $\endgroup$– BayesianMar 20, 2017 at 9:05
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2$\begingroup$ Perhaps Germany trades a lot of agricultural products and services with her neighbors. European economies are very intertwined. Amazon is only a tiny sliver of commerce anywhere, and it is not representative of the whole of commerce. $\endgroup$– GiskardMar 20, 2017 at 11:15
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Intermediate and capital goods used in the production of other goods are often very expensive and made by Germany. Think fancy manufacturing equipment in chemicals, semiconductors, and metal fabrication as well as precisely manufactured consumables like processed chemicals and auto-parts. Chinese goods are ubiquitous because they are skewed towards final goods like toys and white goods we consume at in our homes.
This shows the mix of German exports is heavily intermediate and capital good focused:
This shows that China is more consumer goods focused (but the trend towards this as a shrinking fraction of a growing total):
