![Into the future without an OTTO catalogue](/unternehmen/uploads/images/_750x375_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_App_Otto.jpg 750w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_1080x540_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_App_Otto.jpg 1080w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_1440x720_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_App_Otto.jpg 1440w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_1920x960_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_App_Otto.jpg 1920w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_2880x1440_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_App_Otto.jpg 2880w)
Into the future without an OTTO catalogue
Of course no one would talk about the avant-garde at the Hamburg company headquarters. Here, with typical Hanseatic modesty, people talk much more about ‘pioneering spirit’. But they both mean the same thing: the will to make progress. The courage to try new things. Whether with the concept that seemed almost absurd in 1950 to enable people to buy shoes at home or 45 years later with the idea to use the internet as a sales platform. Back then lots of people prophesied: the internet - it won’t last.
![Hand-bound and glued: the first OTTO catalogue was made in 1950 with a print run of 300.](/unternehmen/uploads/images/_240x240_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion2.jpg 240w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_360x360_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion2.jpg 360w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_480x480_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion2.jpg 480w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_720x720_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion2.jpg 720w)
![Over 14 pages, the first catalogue presented 28 pairs of shoes. What was new? Buying shoes from home. And on account too.](/unternehmen/uploads/images/_240x240_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion.jpg 240w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_360x360_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion.jpg 360w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_480x480_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion.jpg 480w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_720x720_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion.jpg 720w)
Now, just 70 years after the company was founded, the online retailer is leaving behind its several hundred page founding manifesto - the OTTO catalogue. And this parting is not a new beginning, but the logical continuation of the digital revolution at OTTO.
In the beginning there were 28 pairs of shoes
The company’s pioneering spirit began in 1950. With the first hand-bound Werner Otto catalogue. Twenty-eight pairs of shoes on fourteen pages. The advertising piece reached a total of three hundred households at that time. Quickly more and more people became interested in ordering by catalogue. The range grew - from furniture to fashion and technology - the print runs and page numbers also grew. At its peak, the OTTO catalogue was over 1000 pages strong - more than 70 times as thick as when the company started. Top models like Claudia Schiffer, Heidi Klum and Gisele Bündchen, icons of their time, decorated the cover of the heavy tome. Now it’s come to an end.
![The era of the top model: in 1993, the cover of the OTTO catalogue shows the iconic model Claudia Schiffer.](/unternehmen/uploads/images/_240x240_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_Claudia_Schiffer_Otto.jpg 240w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_360x360_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_Claudia_Schiffer_Otto.jpg 360w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_480x480_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_Claudia_Schiffer_Otto.jpg 480w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_720x720_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_Claudia_Schiffer_Otto.jpg 720w)
![In 2004 the TV star and top model Heidi Klum graces the cover of the main catalogue.](/unternehmen/uploads/images/_240x240_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_Heidi_Klum_Otto.jpg 240w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_360x360_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_Heidi_Klum_Otto.jpg 360w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_480x480_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_Heidi_Klum_Otto.jpg 480w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_720x720_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_Heidi_Klum_Otto.jpg 720w)
![The Brazilian top model Gisele Bündchen is the face of the 2005 autumn/winter catalogue.](/unternehmen/uploads/images/_240x240_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_bündchen_Otto.jpg 240w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_360x360_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_bündchen_Otto.jpg 360w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_480x480_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_bündchen_Otto.jpg 480w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_720x720_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_bündchen_Otto.jpg 720w)
The future is now
On 4th December this year the last OTTO catalogue will be released. Then it’s curtains. It’s no huge shock, just a matter of fact. Because after all, OTTO makes 95 percent of their revenue online. Of this, almost half is from smartphones and tablets.
“Leaving behind the OTTO catalogue is just a side note for us, but it is further proof of the successful growth of our company. For us, instead of nostalgia, the spirit of optimism reigns supreme. Today we are proud to be able to further drive the digitalisation of retail and look forward to a digital future,” affirms Marc Opelt, the Chairperson of the OTTO Divisional Board and the person responsible for the Marketing Department.
For us, instead of nostalgia, the spirit of optimism reigns supreme.
OTTO is looking forward. To the future of E-commerce. Exactly as the pioneering spirit of the company has always led them to do. The focus is on the areas of smart home, artificial intelligence and machine learning. For this, OTTO invests millions in new technologies, like computer generated imagery. They are trying consulting formats like augmented reality apps and working on future purchasing channels, like voice commerce. Away from that one big thing that bundles all interests of all customers together and towards special offers. Thanks to the intelligent digital mechanisms in the background but also with one big goal: continuously improving the individual purchase experience of the customer - because each individual customer counts.
![“I’m off to the app!” The title of the last main catalogue makes it clear: leaving the catalogue behind is the last step from the old catalogue distributor to a purely online retailer.](/unternehmen/uploads/images/_750x422_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_App_Otto4.jpg 750w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_1080x608_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_App_Otto4.jpg 1080w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_1440x810_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_App_Otto4.jpg 1440w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_1920x1080_crop_center-center_none/Cover-Katalog-Druckerei_Kultur_Titel_App_Otto4.jpg 1920w)
![1949: The business licence makes it official - Werner Otto founds the mail order company.](/unternehmen/uploads/images/_240x240_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog-Gewerbe_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion.jpg 240w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_360x360_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog-Gewerbe_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion.jpg 360w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_480x480_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog-Gewerbe_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion.jpg 480w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_720x720_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog-Gewerbe_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion.jpg 720w)
![1950: The first OTTO catalogue shows 28 pairs of shoes on 14 hand-bound pages. What was new? Ordering from home and on account too.](/unternehmen/uploads/images/_240x240_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion2.jpg 240w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_360x360_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion2.jpg 360w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_480x480_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion2.jpg 480w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_720x720_crop_center-center_none/Erster-Otto-Katalog_Kultur_1950_Eigenproduktion2.jpg 720w)
![1958: Within 9 years the company grows to 100 million D-marks in turnover per year. The range now includes hardware like electric devices as well as clothing.](/unternehmen/uploads/images/_240x240_crop_center-center_none/3417/Elektronik-Bestellung-Katalog_Kultur_Otto_1953_Eigenproduktion.jpg 240w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_360x360_crop_center-center_none/3417/Elektronik-Bestellung-Katalog_Kultur_Otto_1953_Eigenproduktion.jpg 360w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_480x480_crop_center-center_none/3417/Elektronik-Bestellung-Katalog_Kultur_Otto_1953_Eigenproduktion.jpg 480w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_720x720_crop_center-center_none/3417/Elektronik-Bestellung-Katalog_Kultur_Otto_1953_Eigenproduktion.jpg 720w)
![1963: The Voice Commerce of the time - on the number 61 10 81 customers can place their order immediately on the phone.](/unternehmen/uploads/images/_240x240_crop_center-center_none/Telefonische-Bestellung-Katalog_Kultur_Otto_1991_Eigenproduktion.jpg 240w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_360x360_crop_center-center_none/Telefonische-Bestellung-Katalog_Kultur_Otto_1991_Eigenproduktion.jpg 360w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_480x480_crop_center-center_none/Telefonische-Bestellung-Katalog_Kultur_Otto_1991_Eigenproduktion.jpg 480w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_720x720_crop_center-center_none/Telefonische-Bestellung-Katalog_Kultur_Otto_1991_Eigenproduktion.jpg 720w)
![1969: After opening an intermediate station in Hamburg Hamm, OTTO moves the new company headquarters to Bramfeld. The headquarters of the Hamburg family company is still here.](/unternehmen/uploads/images/_240x240_crop_center-center_none/Standort-Bramfeld-Otto-Gründung_Kultur_1969_Eigenproduktion.jpg 240w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_360x360_crop_center-center_none/Standort-Bramfeld-Otto-Gründung_Kultur_1969_Eigenproduktion.jpg 360w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_480x480_crop_center-center_none/Standort-Bramfeld-Otto-Gründung_Kultur_1969_Eigenproduktion.jpg 480w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_720x720_crop_center-center_none/Standort-Bramfeld-Otto-Gründung_Kultur_1969_Eigenproduktion.jpg 720w)
![1981: Werner Otto’s son Michael (centre) takes over his father’s (left) family business. He establishes stores in France, Austria and Italy and invests in different companies.](/unternehmen/uploads/images/_240x240_crop_center-center_none/Werner-Otto-Michael-Otto-Günter-Nawrath-Gründung_Kultur_1981_Eigenproduktion.jpg 240w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_360x360_crop_center-center_none/Werner-Otto-Michael-Otto-Günter-Nawrath-Gründung_Kultur_1981_Eigenproduktion.jpg 360w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_480x480_crop_center-center_none/Werner-Otto-Michael-Otto-Günter-Nawrath-Gründung_Kultur_1981_Eigenproduktion.jpg 480w, /unternehmen/uploads/images/_720x720_crop_center-center_none/Werner-Otto-Michael-Otto-Günter-Nawrath-Gründung_Kultur_1981_Eigenproduktion.jpg 720w)