Figure 1.--We do not know a great deal about Otto Versand at this time. The Otto Versand catalog image here shows a boy wearing the company's tights. Otto Versand offers tights for both boys and girls. |
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We do not know a great deal about Otto Versand at this time. We are not sure when the company was founded, but it is sttill functioning today. We believe that they are a major manufacturer of hosiery in Germany. We know that they market hosiery. They may well now manufacturer in other countries, but we have no details about this. They may produce more than just hosiery, but the products we have noted are prikmarily hosiery. Hioefully our German readers will provide some information about this company. The Otto Versand catalog image here shows a boy wearing the company's tights (figure 1). Otto Versand offers tights for both boys and girls.
It appears that Otto Versand is not a manufacturer, but rather a major German retailer, often referred to as only "Otto". The company was a retailer, nit a manufscturer, but they did have some store brands. A German reader writes, "„Otto Versand“ and „Quelle“ are the two large mail service shops in Germany. They offer all products like Sears and others in the U.S. and U.K., not only clothing and hosiery. They don´t produce products although they have some so called „Hausmarken“ which are products from (brand) manufactures with the label of Otto or Quelle. „Quelle“ is in Germany bigger, founded in 1927.
We have some historical information about the beginning of Otto Versand in 1949. Deutschlands Nummer zwei ist Weltmarktführer:
„Das Unternehmen hinter dem Katalog heißt seit Anfang 2003 kurz und knapp Otto - ohne den Zusatz "Versand". Und es ist seit 1986 weltweit die Nummer eins auf dem Versandmarkt. Fast 66.000 Angestellte arbeiten für den Großkonzern und seine Tochterfirmen, davon etwa 12.000 in Deutschland. Rund 14,3 Milliarden Euro Umsatz erzielte die Otto-Gruppe im Geschäftsjahr 2003/2004. Im Ursprungsland ist die globale Nummer eins allerdings nur Nummer zwei: Der deutsche Versandhausthron wird nach wie vor von Quelle beansprucht. Otto mag Milliardenumsätze machen, hat ein globales Firmennetz und allein in Deutschland rund 15 Millionen Kunden - trotzdem gehört der Konzern auch 50 Jahre nach seiner Gründung keiner Großbank und keinen Ölscheichs aus Kuwait, sondern nach wie vor den Ottos.“ This would translate as, "Germany's number two is a market leader: The enterprise
behind the catalog is called Otto for beginning in 2003 - without the additive "Versand". And it is
since 1986 world-wide the number one on the dispatch market.
Nearly 66,000 employees work for the large concern and its
subsidiaries, of it about 12,000 in Germany. The Otto Versand Group grossed nearly 4.3 billion euros in the 2003/2004 fiscal year. In Germany (the country of origin) the global number one catalog company is, however, only number two: The German distributing house throne is still stressed by source. Otto grossed 1 billion euros, has a global marketing network, and in just Germany has approximately 15 million customers. Nevertheless the company still does not belong after 50 years of operations to a major bank or an oil sheikh from Kuwait."
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