When Wal-Mart arrived in Germany eight years ago, it tried to introduce its new customers to an American custom – assigning staff to pack shoppers’ bags at the checkouts.

But rather than hailing this US import, Germans balked at the idea. “The German consumer does not like extra service. He’s worried he’ll have to pay for it,” said Thorsten de Boer, a retail specialist at Roland Berger, a Munich-based consulting company. “People in this country only ever look out for one thing – price.”