Otto Group, which claims to be the world’s second-largest online retailer and parent company of Sport-Scheck, increased its sales by 2.5 percent to €11,530 million in the fiscal year ended last Feb. 29. In a preliminary statement, the Hamburg-based retail group pointed out that substantial growth outside Germany was the driving force behind the increase. While Otto’s retail business was rather flat in the domestic market, the group managed to expand its mail-order and other services in Germany significantly.
In Germany, Otto’s sales slipped by 0.3 percent to €5,382 million, representing 46.6 percent of total sales. The turnover went down especially for the mail-order catalogs, the company’s traditional core business: The Otto catalog generated 5.6 percent less revenue than the year before and reached sales of €1,713 million and some other mail-order services performed worse than before.
Otto compensated for its shrinking sales in the difficult multi-channel retail business with the strong performance in other branches: Financial services grew by 18.6 percent to €1,678 million. Other services, including tourism and postal services under the Hermes Logistik flag, saw their sales jump by 19.8 percent to €713 million. No details have yet been released about Sport-Scheck.
Outside the home market, Otto Group moved fast forward, especially in France, Japan and the USA. Its American operations under the Crate & Barrel banner soared by 10.6 percent to $1,420 million. In Japan where the operations were shifted from a joint venture to a wholly owned subsidiary at the beginning of this year, sales increased by 4.4 percent to ¥34,005 million (€209.3m-$322.8m). The French business under the 3Suisses helm was up by 3.7 percent and reached €2,072 million. More difficult was Otto’s performance in the U.K., where sales were down by 7.7 percent to £417 million (€533.4m-$822.4m).
