Otto Group

In August 1949, Werner Otto founded the company Werner Otto Versandhandel (Otto Versand) in Hamburg. In 1950, the first catalogue with a print run of 300 copies was published, presenting 28 pairs of shoes on 14 hand-bound pages. The following year, the first printed catalogue comprised 28 pages and offered an extended product range, which subsequently further diversified in the 1950s and included, among others, porcelain, bicycles, and electrical appliances. After further expansion, Otto Versand moved into a 205,000-square meter building in 1960. The number of employees increased to 2,000. In 1969, the Hanseatic Bank was founded, through which customers could finance their orders. At the same time, the Werner Otto Foundation was established in Hamburg to promote medical research. When postal strikes and higher rates posed a threat to operations in 1972, the delivery service Hermes Versand was established. In 1981, Michael Otto, son of the founder, took over the company. Throughout the following years, the Otto Group continued its expansion into Spain, Italy, Great Britain and other markets. and Otto Group launched an online shopping website in 1995. In 2014 the online fashion retailer About You was founded. In the 2015/2016 financial year, over 90% of mail order sales were generated online, making the Otto Group the second-largest German online retailer behind Amazon, according to a study by the EHI Retail Institute. The last printed edition of the Otto main catalogue was published in December 2018, as around 95% of all orders were received digitally by this point. == Corporate affairs ==

The key trends of the Otto Group are (as at the financial year ending February 28): == Corporate structure ==

The shares in the Group of Michael Otto and his son, Benjamin Otto, have been combined in a foundation since 2016. The Group operates over 100 companies internationally, The following is an extract of some subsidiaries: • Bonprix • Crate & Barrel • Heine • Küche & Co • Sheego • Venus • Witt • Baur Retail • Hanseatic • Frankonia • Freemans Grattan • Limango • Manufactum • Unito Services • Baur Logistics • Evri • Girard Agediss • Hermes Einrichtungs Service • Hermes Fulfilment • Hermes Germany • Otto International • EOS Group • Hanseatic Bank • Otto payments == Sustainability ==

Activities concerning sustainability are the responsibility of the executive board. These activities relate to both ecological and economic sustainability, which were anchored in the Otto Group's corporate objectives in 1986. In 2005, the Aid by Trade Foundation was created, which originated the initiative Cotton made in Africa. The cotton sourced from growers of the Cotton made in Africa initiative is used by the Otto Group and other textile companies such as ASOS and S.Oliver. == Criticism ==

In 2016, the UK branch of Hermes was criticized by The Guardian for paying its suppliers less than the minimum wage. Hermes couriers were self-employed and were paid based on the parcels delivered. Hermes was again criticized by a major newspaper in 2021, when a The Times article published allegations about the mishandling of packages and bad customer service. == References ==