We want to offer our customers the best products and services at all times. Therefore, we are constantly on the look-out for innovative new solutions. In this way, we fulfill the promise to our customers that we will always be a step ahead.

Otto has been known as an innovator from its earliest days. For instance, Otto was the first player in the German market to introduce buying on account in 1952 and, in 1990, the first player to offer 24-hour service.

The Otto Group made the quantum leap to become a multichannel distributor in the mid-1990s, when it began selling products on the Internet. The multichannel strategy has given rise to substantial synergy benefits from the interaction of the mail-order business, the retail store business and e-commerce. Furthermore, the rich experience gained from the Internet operations of “www.otto.de“ has been successfully shared with the other companies of the Group. Consequently, the entire Otto Group is extremely well prepared to face the competitive environment of the coming years.

Looking back on its history, it is clear that Otto owes its success to an ability to anticipate and take advantage of future trends. Thus, Otto was quick to perceive the opportunities of e-commerce and the growth potential of Internet users as a target group. Today, sales conducted over the new media, including mobile telephone and interactive TV applications in addition to PC-based Internet sales, are driving the growth of mail-order sales. The Otto Group projects that new media sales will account for 20 percent of all mail-order sales by the year 2010.