The Otto Group is a leading international retail and service company with around 50,000 employees in more than 30 countries across Europe, North America and Asia. The company’s main areas of activity include online multichannel retailing, financial services and business processes.
The Group is committed to responsible action and value-driven entrepreneurship. This commitment is reflected in the Otto Group’s CR Strategy 2020, which sets out key goals for advancing environmental and social responsibility and for strengthening the Group’s financial and operational performance.
As a global online retailer with a broad range of product offerings, the Otto Group has an important role to play in the growth of the global e-commerce market. Consequently, the Otto Group continues to invest in digitalisation and digitisation of its own business models, processes and sales channels.
With a consistent approach to digitisation and optimisation, the Otto Group is able to maintain strong growth in e-commerce and to increase the share of e-commerce revenues in total revenue. This is especially noticeable in the German market, where e-commerce growth was once again very impressive on a comparable basis.
In line with the global trend, online fashion and furniture markets in particular have regained their footing. In addition, the Otto Group’s major Group companies in the USA and in Great Britain are also enjoying a pleasing development.
These are positive developments in a climate of subdued economic growth and lower consumer sentiment. As expected, these trends will likely lead to slow single-digit growth in the coming year.
However, e-commerce growth will be more than sufficient to support the Group’s overall revenue target. In the 2021/22 financial year, the Otto Group’s online revenues are expected to reach around EUR 11 billion worldwide, of which almost 7.6 billion euros are forecasted for Germany.
During the past financial year, the Otto Group made significant investments in its technology and in the digitisation of its customer purchasing experience. As a result, the Group was able to exceed its own expectations in this regard and to increase e-commerce growth significantly.
As a result, the Group’s global e-commerce revenues grew by around 10 percent on a comparable basis in the current financial year. This is particularly notable in Germany, where e-commerce revenues were up nearly 9 percent on a comparable basis.
The Group has also invested in a high-speed SAP cloud solution, a crucial factor for ensuring the rapid deployment and scalability of new business applications. The Otto Group was able to move from SAP scalability to Google Cloud, where up to 12 terabytes of memory are available on scalable SAP HANA-certified virtual machines (VMs).
With its focus on operational speed and the continuous optimization of processes, the Otto Group is a key player in ensuring success for retailers and brands in the global marketplace. As a leader in e-commerce, the Group is resolutely determined to remain one step ahead of its competitors and to constantly improve and optimise its customer purchasing experience.