Groupe 3SI

Groupe 3SI
legal form	Société Anonyme
founding	1987
resolution	2016
Seat	Croix , France
management	Denis Terrien (General Director)
Number of employees	5,500
sales	1 billion euros
Branch	E-commerce and e-commerce services
Website	www.groupe3si.com

Groupe 3SI (formerly 3 Suisses International ) was a French mail order group founded in 1987 and based in Croix near Roubaix . From 2013, 100% of the capital was held by the Otto Group , which, in view of increasing competition in the online sector, liquidated the group through asset sales from 2016. The core brand 3 Suisses of the former group continues to exist as a pure online retailer under new ownership.

history

The company goes back to a mail order business founded by Xavier Toulemonde in 1932 for knitting yarn made in the Toulemonde-Destombes family's spinning mill . For this he created the brand 3 Suisses and expanded the business activity first to Belgium and the Netherlands, later also to Germany and Austria. In 1949 the first clothing catalog came out (24 black and white pages).

In the 1960s and 1970s, 3 Suisses expanded greatly and was significant distributor of Konfektions - Prêt-à-Porter . In 1972 the range expanded to include gift items, first in Germany, and then also in Austria, Belgium and France.

Since the knitting yarn business collapsed in the 1980s, the Toulemonde family sold 50% of the company to Otto-Versand , 45% to the Association Familiale Mulliez (group of companies of the Mulliez family) and 5% to Soparsuis (a management company) -buy-out of executives of the 3SI group). The knitting yarn distribution to Belgium, Germany and Austria was given up. The group limited itself to the mail order business and the new business areas consumer credit (foundation of the joint venture Cofidis in with the Cetelem bank), banking (foundation of Banque Covefi) and cosmetics (foundation of the "Le Club des Créateurs de Beauté", a 50 / 50 joint venture with L'Oréal ). The textile sector was expanded through the acquisition of the companies Blancheporte, VPC Promotion (Senior & Cie) and Becquet. New branches were opened in southern Europe.

In 1991 the spinning mill (La Filature de l'Espierre) was also sold. In the 1990s, the group expanded its mail order business in collaboration with the credit institutions Cofidis and Banque Covefi. With the subsidiaries JM Bruneau and Otto Office , another new business area was the corporate customer business (B2B). The collection service provider Contentia was founded and entry into the media of the Internet and mobile phone ( e-commerce ) was completed in all business areas .

Since the turn of the millennium, new concepts have been developed in the areas of textiles and housewares, in the office supplies division Otto Office began to expand its activities to France and JM Bruneau to Belgium, Spain and Germany. In the financial sector, the commercial financier Créfidis was founded, the debt rescheduling specialist Créatis was acquired, the majority in C2C was acquired and the consumer credit financier Cofidis is also active in Eastern Europe. In the C2C area, the website 2xMoinsCher.com was taken over. In addition, the new business area “Services for companies” was founded. In March 2010, the mail order company Quelle La Source, the former subsidiary of Quelle GmbH , was taken over.

structure

The 3SI group is active in 20 countries. The activities of the 3 SI Group are divided into two business areas:

E-commerce

• 3 Suisses : Shipping of fashion for women, men and children as well as household and leisure items directly to customers or to 3500 collection points (“relays”) in France. Main target group: women between 35 and 45
• 3 pages : shipping of decorative, household and seasonal items in Germany and Austria.
• Becquet : Shipping of home textiles and decorative fabrics.
• Blancheporte : shipping of clothing, home textiles and household items. Main target group: women between 40 and 65. Represented in France, Belgium and the Czech Republic.
• Helline : Dispatch of fashion and ambience items in the high-priced segment (target group women around 45).
• Unigro : active in Belgium, specializing in the mail order business of furnishings (furniture, electrical and electronic equipment, leisure items ) in installments.
• Venca : Mediterranean fashion. Market leader in mail order in Spain. Also represented in Portugal.
• Vitrine Magique : mail order sale of cheap items in France, Belgium and Spain.
• Witt International : Modeversand (target group women over 50). A joint venture with the German company Witt Weiden, which belongs to the Otto Group, for the French and UK markets.

E-commerce services

The subsidiaries belong to this division

• Cité Numérique : produces catalogs, other print publications and websites for the 3SI group and external companies (Quais de l'image and Naos Publishing)
• Mondial Relay : parcel delivery service
• Mezzo : customer service
• Taylormail : Online Marketing
• Dispeo : logistics solutions

Key figures

Groupe 3SI's turnover is 1 billion euros. The group employs over 5,500 people.

Web links

• www.groupe3si.com (English)
• www.3suisses.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Otto Group can take over 3SI Group. (No longer available online.) Deutscher Fachverlag, September 19, 2013, archived from the original on January 16, 2014 ; accessed on January 16, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ Takeover of the French Quelle mail order company. Retrieved November 24, 2010 .