Otto Group, one of the world’s largest online retailers, saw its online sales increase to approximately 7.7 billion euros in the 2018/19 financial year. That’s an increase of 4.5 percent compared to the situation one year before.

Most of that revenue still comes from the Otto Group’s brands that are active in Germany. In its home market, the group of retailers and service providers saw its online revenues increase by 5.2 percent to 5.3 billion euros, the group’s latest annual report shows.

Unusually long summer impacted revenues

For next year, the Otto Group expects an increase in its online revenue, while the growth of this year eventually was lower than expected. “The unusually long and hot summer in Europe, which affected business in general, impacted the Otto Group’s textile and furniture revenues, and consequently the financial performance as a whole”, the company explains. Revenue growth was also negatively influenced by the withdrawal of certain Otto brands in Russia.

Expansion of ecommerce platform Otto

Online retailer Otto wants to continue investing heavily in the expansion of its ecommerce platform, which it has done over the previous twelve months. The former mail order company has become a platform that allows external vendors rather than being just an online retailer. By 2020, Otto’s customers should be able to access products from up to 3,000 new partners.

The Otto Group owns multiple retailers and retail-related service providers and had about 52,000 employees and sales of 13.4 billion euros last year. The globally active group is present in over 30 countries in Europe, North and South America and Asia.