OTTO investiert in Plattform, baut neue Firmenzentrale – und wächst weiter

“Our transformation for the platform is not a sure-fire success - which makes me all the more proud of the fact that we are able to successfully shape perhaps the greatest change in our company history,” says Marc Opelt, chairperson of the OTTO divisional board. “We are completely repositioning ourselves in our own business areas, working on the automation of our partner connectivity and despite all this, managing to grow significantly.”

Mobile first and 2 million new customers

OTTO forecasts a total turnover of 3.2 billion Euro for the 2018/19 business year. This means the OTTO sole proprietorship will have grown for the ninth time in a row, likely by more than 8 percent. The increasing number of active customers is also very gratifying: 7 million people shopped at otto.de - up 5 percent - of which 2 million were new customers. In the last business year, for the first time, more than half of all customers (55 percent) shopped at otto.de using a smartphone or a tablet.

Development for the platform forges ahead - a new partner every two days

Since mid-2017, the online retailer has been working on the further development of its business model for the platform and the opening of otto.de to new partners and brands. Through this, OTTO has already connected 400 new suppliers. The company is also optimising the further automation of the on-boarding processes and extending the initiatives OTTO Market and the self-service portal Brand Connect. In the new business year, OTTO. will invest around 100 million Euro in further development for the platform - as they did in the previous 12 months. By the year 2020, customers should be able to access the products of up to 3,000 new partners, as confirmed by OTTO executive Marc Opelt.

Construction of the main building - without executive offices

At OTTO not one stone is being left as it was and this shows in the construction plans: work to build a new company headquarters on the campus in Hamburg Bramfeld is due for completion in summer 2022. For this, OTTO has invested in the architecturally demanding project to convert an old warehouse. The new head office will provide a modern and flexible work space for 1,800 members of staff in a multi-space concept across nine floors. One special thing about this is that the OTTO executives are giving up their individual offices and sitting with the employees ‘out on the floor’ - very much in keeping with ‘new work’. “OTTO’s history is unique and so our OTTO campus should also become a unique space for collaboration. Our employees should feel at home and enjoy working on the digital retail of the future here,” explains Marc Opelt

OTTO buys IoT start-up ‘OrderThis’ and announces ‘OTTO ready’

“In future, household devices without an internet connection will become extinct. So, under the label ‘OTTO ready’, we are making devices and platforms that can connect with OTTO and look forward to lots more collaborations in the IoT sector,” says Marc Opelt. In order to position OTTO immediately on the smart household devices market, the Hamburg-based online retailer is purchasing the start-up OrderThis on 1st March 2019. The OrderThis software functions as a connection between online shops and internet-capable household devices - for example dishwashers, printers, coffee makers and washing machines - and should make OTTO a centre for purchasing additional products for smart devices. In the first pilot project, dishwashers with Home Connect - for example from the brand Bosch - can order tabs from OTTO.An interview with OTTO executive Marc Opelt and additional information and images on the subject of OTTO ready and the campus construction can be found at www.otto.de/newsroom/en.

An interview with OTTO executive Marc Opelt and additional information and images on the subject of OTTO ready and the campus construction can be found at www.otto.de/newsroom/en.