Otto GmbH & Co KG (

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

Otto Group, stylized as otto group, formerly Otto Versand) is a German

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing ...

company and one of the world's biggest

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain managem ...

companies. Based in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, it operates in more than twenty countries. Otto is primarily a

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

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. 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.

History

The family of executive board chairman Michael Otto owns the majority of the company. The company is based in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany. It was founded by Werner Otto in 1949. The first catalogue was hand produced offering twenty eight styles of shoes. During the 1950s, the product range business volume expanded. Otto introduced telephone orders in 1963, and launched an

online shopping Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the ...

website in 1995. Michael Otto was the former owner of Spiegel, Inc., (the parent company of

Eddie Bauer Eddie Bauer, LLC is an American clothing store chain headquartered in Seattle, Seattle, Washington. Eddie Bauer sells its merchandise via retail stores, outlet stores, and online and via phone, with a call center in Groveport, Ohio. Its flagship ...

and the former owners of the catalogue Spiegel). 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 ** Venus Fashion *

Crate & Barrel Euromarket Designs Inc., doing business as Crate & Barrel (stylized as Crate&Barrel), is an international furniture and home décor retail store headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. They employ 8200 employees across over 100 stores in the Uni ...

*EOS *Frankonia *Freemans Grattan Holdings **

Freemans Freemans is a British online and catalogue clothing retailer headquartered in Bradford, England. Freemans offers a range of products, predominantly clothing, footwear and homewares. History The company was founded as Freemans & Co in 1905 by ...

** Grattan **Look Again ** Gifts365.co.uk ** Clearance365.co.uk ** Witt international UK ** Swimwear365.co.uk ** Curvissa ** bonprix UK **

Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a regular symmetrical pattern when v ...

/ Acquisition DiLusso.it **Oli *

Hanseatic Bank As a private bank based in Hamburg, Hanseatic Bank operates throughout Germany. It specializes in four core businesses: deposit-taking , real-estate related financing, receivables management and credit cards. The company's products are distribut ...

(25%) *Hanseatic Versicherungsdienst *Hansecontrol **Hansecontrol-Cert (49%) *Heine *Hermes Europe ** Hermes Parcel Services in Germany, Italy, Austria and Russia ** Hermes UK, rebranded as Evri (25%) *

Bombay Company The Bombay Company is an American furniture and home accessories retailer owned (since 2011) by Hermes-Otto International USA LLC. At one time a chain of over 500 stores headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, Bombay Company was relaunched in 2012 as a ...

*Küche&Co *Lascana *Limango *

Manufactum Manufactum GmbH & Co. KG (formerly ''Manufactum Hoof & Partner KG'') is a German retailer with nine full-sized stores in Germany and an online store that serves primarily Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the UK. The main focus of the company a ...

*Mirapodo *MyToys.de (74.8%) *Yomonda *OFT *OTTO *OTTO Doosan Mail Order *OTTO Group Russia *OTTO Japan **

Japan *OTTO Office (verkauft an ''Printus'' im Jahr 2015) *Otto International *Phi-t products & services (50%) *RatePayhttps://www.deutsche-startups.de/verzeichnisse/startups-a-z/ratepay/ RatePAY is a subsidiarie of Otto Group *Schwab *Shopping24 *Smatch.com * 3 Suisses International Group **

Cofidis Cofidis is a French company, now majority owned by Crédit Mutuel, based in Villeneuve-d'Ascq. Founded in 1982 by 3 Suisses International in cooperation with Cetelem, Cofidis specialized in the consumer credit business of the 3 Suisses Group. I ...

(49%) ** Venca * Witt Weiden *Witt-Group **Witt International UK *Fegro/Selgros

References

External links

*
Suisses International Group
Companies based in Hamburg Retail companies established in 1949 Mail-order retailers German brands Online retailers of Germany Otto family German companies established in 1949 {{Hamburg-stub