is still there. In fact my team just launched a new feature on it a week ago. Amazon is far from dead in Germany.

My comment was purely about retail and Wal-Mart.

"Competitors, like the low-cost chains Aldi and Lidl, continue to grow and succeed in Germany. In fact, the competition from a surge of low-cost chains is attributed with keeping average food costs as much as 40% lower in Germany than in France or Great Britain." (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/07/walmart_leaves.php)

And:

"Wal-Mart, which entered the German market eight years ago, struggled against the might of the discount retailers already operating in Germany, including the no-frills Aldi and Lidl." (http://www.intuitive.com/blog/walmart_sells_off_german_store...)

or: "Wal-Mart Stores Inc. boasts that its discount pricing attracts more than 127 million visits to its American stores each week. In Germany, however, its prices apparently weren't low enough." (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115407238850420246.html)

Wal-Mart is expensive compared with Aldi. And Aldi has a reputation for treating its employees well, bargaining hard but fair with its suppliers and delivering great value to customers. (My own opinion, but you can read something at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi#Reputation)

[Sorry, I am a fan.]