German Otto Group continues to soar

German online company Otto Group saw its turnover grow 10.9 % to 7.76 billion euro in the past fiscal year. The former mail order company will continue to invest in start-ups and technology.

Second largest in Germany

In its broken fiscal year until 28 February, Otto Group generated a 10.9 % turnover increase thanks to online sales. The majority of turnover still comes from its German home market, where it grew 10.2 % to 5.4 billion euro.

The results indicate that the group is the second largest online company in Germany, trailing only Amazon. “We are very happy with this dynamic turnover development”, chairman Rainer Hillebrand admitted. According to him, these results clearly indicate that the company is executing the right strategy, but he is also aware there is strong competition.

Focus on augmented reality and digital assistants

Customer centricity should be Otto Group’s main priority according to Hillebrand. The company did welcome 31 million customers last year and it wants to double down on technology, especially conversational commerce. That concept entails communication and sales through digital assistants and chatbots. Otto has even created a specific team to expand these services.

Meanwhile, Google presented a new augmented reality app at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where Otto was its only retail partner. The app for Otto’s interior design web shop yourhome.de lets customers place furniture in their own home thanks to AR.

“Whether it is conversational commerce, Internet of Things or data-focused business models, the focus is to expand our technological capabilities across all of the group’s divisions”, according to chief digital officer Sebastian Klauke. Otto Group also wants to invest another 85 million into its own start-ups, which shows how important innovation and technology is to the group that owns About You, Hagebau, Bonprix and MyToys among others.