Otto GmbH

Otto GmbH & Co KG
Private
Genre Mail order
Predecessor Otto Versand
Headquarters Hamburg, Germany
Key people
 Michael Otto
Owner Michael Otto
Subsidiaries Crate & Barrel
Website www.ottogroup.com

The Otto Group, or Otto GmbH & Co KG (formerly Otto Versand), is a mail order company and currently one of the world's biggest e-commerce companies. It is based in Germany and France and operates in more than 20 countries.[1] Otto is primarily a retail e-commerce company, and as a shareholder it also operates in e-commerce services. The Otto group has expanded into real estate and financial services.[2] In France Otto claims to be the leading e-commerce business through 3 Suisses. In June 2013 Otto executed a full takeover to become its only shareholder.[3]

Otto Group, a family business

The family of executive board chairman Michael Otto owns the majority of the company. The company is based in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded by Werner Otto in 1949.[4] The first catalogue was hand produced offering 28 styles of shoes. During the 1950's the product range business volume expanded. Otto introduced telephone orders in 1963 and launched an online shopping website in 1995.[5]

Michael Otto was the former owner of Spiegel, Inc., (the parent company of Eddie Bauer and the former owners of the Spiegel catalogue). It filed for bankruptcy on 17 March 2003. On 25 May 2005, Spiegel, Inc., emerged from bankruptcy renamed Eddie Bauer Holdings and was primarily owned by Commerzbank.

Subsidiaries

Individual companies of the Otto Group:

  • About You
  • Alba Moda
  • Baumarkt Direct
  • Baur
  • bonprix
  • Crate & Barrel
  • EOS
  • Frankonia
  • Freemans Grattan Holdings
  • Hanseatic Bank (25%)
  • Hanseatic Versicherungsdienst
  • Hansecontrol
    • Hansecontrol-Cert (49%)
  • Heine
  • Hermes Europe
  • Hermes Parcel Services in Germany, UK, Italy, Austria
  • Hermes-OTTO International
  • Küche&Co
  • Lascana
  • Limango
  • Manufactum
  • Mirapodo
  • MyToys.de (74.8%)
  • OFT
  • OTTO
  • OTTO Doosan Mail Order
  • OTTO Group Russia
  • OTTO Japan
  • OTTO Office
  • Phi-t products & services (50%)
  • Schwab
  • Shopping24
  • Smatch.com
  • SportScheck
  • 3 Suisses International Group
  • Witt Weiden
  • Fegro/Selgros

References

  1. ↑ Manning, C. J. "Catalog Shopping". HowToGermany.com. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
  2. ↑ "Otto & Family". Forbes. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  3. ↑ News, Ecommerce. "Otto wants to buy ecommerce assets of 3SI". Ecommercenews.eu. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
  4. ↑ "Information about Otto GmbH". Meingutscheinecode. 7 September 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-07.
  5. ↑ http://www.theolympian.com/2011/12/27/1926895/german-industry-mogul-werner-otto.html%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D

Coordinates: 53°36′3.17″N 10°4′21.12″E / 53.6008806°N 10.0725333°E / 53.6008806; 10.0725333


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