Otto GmbH

Line

  • Hans -Otto Schrader, CEO
  • Michael Otto, Chairman of the Board

The Otto Group, based in Hamburg, is a worldwide-operating trade and services group with approximately 53,800 employees. The activities of the Otto Group, the three divisions direct sales Retail, Financial Services and Services. In addition, the Group's venture capital business and promotes the development of business start-ups in e-commerce. Sales in fiscal year 2012/13 amounted to about 11.8 billion euros.

Direct sales is the core business of the Otto Group. 57 percent of all revenues in this segment the Group achieved its world-wide around 100 online stores. Thus, the Otto Group is in the consumer business, the largest online retailer in the textile segment and in international comparison the second largest online retailer by Amazon.com.

In the ranking of the 500 largest family in Germany of the journal Economic Journal, the group occupies the ninth place.

  • 3.1 direct sales retail
  • 3.2 Financial Services
  • 3.3 Service

Company History

In August 1949, the 40 -year-old Werner Otto founded (1909 - 2011) in Hamburg, Werner Otto mail order. The following year, 1950, the first catalog in which hand-bound 14 pages on 28 pairs of shoes were presented appeared. The edition was 300 copies. As the first mail- led Otto buying a invoice. 1951 included the first printed catalog 28 pages and offered an expanded assortment, which consisted among other things of shoes, briefcases, rain coats and trousers. By 1953, Otto quintupled its sales in less than two years. The edition of the catalog was already at 37,000 copies. 1958 was one of Otto Versand, with a turnover of 100 million marks to the large companies in Germany.

1960 moved into the Otto Versand the new premises in Hamburg- Bramfeld. The number of employees grew to 2,000. In 1966, the first shopping office was opened in Asia in Hong Kong. Günter Nawrath took over in 1966 as CEO.

In 1968, with the post- Store Magazine, the first gasoline -special catalog. The following year, the Hanseatic Bank was founded, were able to finance the customers their orders. At the same time, the Werner Otto Foundation was established to promote medical research in Hamburg. With the Hermes, a separate delivery service was established in 1972.

With investments in the 3 Suisses International started in 1974 the development of the international concern. In the same year Otto got in the Karlsruhe company Heinrich Heine. 1978, the Otto Group generated sales of 3.176 billion D- Mark and employed 10,740 people.

Followed in 1980 with the founding of Otto Reisen GmbH entry of the company in the tourism industry. In 1981, the CEO Günter Nawrath the Supervisory Board. Michael Otto took over the position of CEO of the Otto Group.

As part of the new advertising campaign in 1986, the slogan " Otto ... I find good" used for the first time and became a dictum. 1990, the annual sales rose to 500 million Deutsche Mark, the 24- hour express service has been introduced. 1992 provided the Hermes of the 500 millionth shipment.

In 1993, Michael Otto Michael Otto Foundation for Environmental Protection to life. 1994 presented the Otto-Versand first mail its range on an interactive CD -ROM. In 1995, the transition was followed into the Internet. In 1997 the company started the Baur Versand. 2000, the Group extended its company portfolio with the foundations of discount24 and travelchannel.de.

The two Austrian stamps of the Otto Group, Universal and OTTO were bundled services in the Unito Shipping & 2003. 2005 sold the Otto Group's 75 percent stake in Hanseatic Bank to Société Générale, Paris. Two years later, Hans -Otto Schrader new CEO of the Otto Group, and thus became the successor to Michael Otto.

In 2009, the Otto Group is secured in a bidding process, the rights to the brand and source of numerous trademarks privilege as well as all shares in source Russia. The company founder Werner Otto died in 2011 at the age of 102 years. 2012 founded the Otto Group with the Brazilian Distance dealer post house, a joint company to forge ahead in Brazil, the e- commerce business.

Group companies

The Group operates internationally, including with subsidiaries in Switzerland, Austria, France, the United Kingdom, the USA, Japan, the People 's Republic of China and Russia. Almost half of the turnover was 2012/2013 generated outside the Federal Republic of Germany. Overall, the Otto Group 123 major subsidiaries, which operate under the umbrella brands following matters:

Retail

  • 3 Suisses International Group
  • Alba Moda
  • DIY direct
  • Baur
  • Bonprix
  • Crate and Barrel
  • Franconia
  • Freemans Grattan Holdings
  • Heine
  • Kitchen & Co
  • Lascana
  • Limango
  • Manufactum
  • Mirapodo
  • MyToys.de
  • Neckermann.de
  • OTTO
  • Otto Group Russia
  • Otto Japan
  • OTTO Office
  • SOURCE
  • Schwab
  • Shopping24
  • Smatch.com
  • Sports check
  • UNITO
  • Witt Group

Financial Services

  • EOS Group
  • Hanseatic Bank
  • Hanseatic insurance services
  • RatePAY
  • Yapital

Service

  • BFS Baur Fulfillment Solutions GmbH ( fulfillment service )
  • Blue Yonder (formerly: Phi -t)
  • Hermes -OTTO International
  • Hermes Europe
  • Hermes Hansecontrol
  • O.F.T. ( Otto Freizeit und Touristik )

The family-owned ECE project management, mainly in Europe since 1965 has shopping malls and other real estate or managed, not part of the Otto Group. The company is headed by Alexander Otto, brother of Michael Otto.

Segments

Direct sales retail

The goods and products are offered through three sales channels: catalog, e -commerce and mortar retail. The Group employs around 29,000 staff in this segment worldwide and achieved a turnover of 10 billion euros, which generates more than half was on the e-commerce in the financial year 2012/13. These include the 100 online stores, direct sales retailers like MyToys and OTTO, the pure online vendors such as Limango and Mirapodo that Shopping24 Group and the Group's corporate venture activities. In retail stores, the Otto Group has more than 400 stores worldwide, approximately 1,800 catalogs are sent each year to customers.

Financial Services

The focus of this segment form retail-related products such as consumer loans or liquidity management. Sales in this division totaled in the financial year 2012/13 to 594 million euros. The strongest selling companies in the segment, the EOS Group, which is active with 49 subsidiaries in 27 countries. Around 9,300 people are employed in the financial services segment.

Service

The service segment, which is primarily influenced by the international services group Hermes, which includes logistics and travel service providers as well as the purchasing companies in the Otto Group. Nearly 15,300 people are employed in this segment. Sales to companies outside the Otto Group in the financial year 2012/13 amounted to about 1.1 billion euros.

Awards

The Otto Group has been awarded for its youth music project The Young ClassX (Managing Director Tobias Wollermann ), an initiative with the ensemble Salut Salon, with the Culture Brand Award 2012.

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