Unito Shipping & Services

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UNITO Versand & Dienstleistungen GmbH

logo
legal form GmbH
founding 4th July 2003
Seat Salzburg , Austria
management Harald Gutschi, Achim Güllmann
Number of employees 617 (February 28, 2018)
sales 414.9 million euros (2017/2018 financial year)
Branch Electronic commerce
Website www.unito.at
As of October 11, 2018

The UNITO Versand & Dienstleistungen GmbH , based in Salzburg is the largest mail order group in the Alps and a part of the global Otto Group . The UNITO Group is represented internationally with five brands in six countries. In addition to its main business, the multichannel mail order business, UNITO is active in the business fields of financial services and B2B services. Sales in the 2017/18 financial year amounted to 414.9 million euros.

Corporate structure

As a subsidiary of the Baur Group, UNITO Versand & Dienstleistungen GmbH is part of the globally operating Hamburg Otto Group and is active in the markets of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. 63% of the shares in the UNITO Group are held by Baur Versand and 37% by Schwab-Versand , which in turn belong to the Otto Group. The management consists of Harald Gutschi and Achim Güllmann. The head office of the UNITO Group is in Salzburg, further locations are Graz and Linz.

history

In 2003, the two Austrian brands of the Otto Group, Universal and OTTO, were merged to form UNITO Versand & Dienstleistungen GmbH. In 2005 UNITO expanded to South Tyrol / Italy with the OTTO brand. Expansion into Switzerland followed in 2010 by taking over the two mail order brands Quelle and Ackermann. In 2011 UNITO revitalized the Quelle brand on the Austrian market as a pure online retailer. The expansion into the German market followed in 2013 with the Quelle and Alpenwelt brands. In 2015, the UNITO Group opened two online shops in Austria and Switzerland. On March 1, 2016, the UNITO Group took over OTTO Central Europe GmbH in Budapest as a wholly-owned subsidiary and is thus developing into the group competence center for business in Eastern Europe. The two special mail-order companies Alpenwelt and Ideas for Home were discontinued in 2018.

Business areas

E-commerce

The group of companies has succeeded in the online transformation: a separate online shop is operated for each of the five brands. The group now has an online share of around 90 percent.

Financial services

The subsidiary OKO Inkasso-Auskunft Ges.mbH & Co. KG, based in Linz, is one of the largest debt collection companies in Austria. Around 100 employees deal with the collection of overdue claims and with the collection of claims that have already been brought. The company's purpose also includes credit information as well as address and workplace investigations.

B2B services

The Customer Service division is the customer advice center based in Graz and is responsible for the telephone and e-mail communication channels. In addition to group companies of the Otto Group, customers also include external companies.

Brands

The UNITO Group is Austria's largest online player, the Universal and OTTO Austria brands are among the online shops with the highest turnover.

Universal shipping

The Universal brand positions itself as a domestic online retailer with over 1 million active Austrian customers. The online share is 85 percent. The Universal brand is looked after from the Salzburg location; the brand started its online shop around 20 years ago. In addition to its role as a sales channel, print also remains an inspiration and brand channel. Since the brand relaunch in 2017, Universal has stood for innovative online shopping across all product ranges from clothing to furniture to technology products. With a turnover of 111.1 million euros, universal.at is the third largest online shop in Austria.

Otto Austria and Otto Central Europe

The OTTO Austria brand positions itself as a young online retailer with products from the areas of fashion, lifestyle, living and technology. As a shopping platform, OTTO offers over 1 million items with a large selection of international brands. The OTTO Austria brand is controlled from the Graz location. In addition, the UNITO Group expanded into Eastern Europe and has been responsible for the OTTO brand's online shops in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary since October 2014. 

Source Austria, Germany and Switzerland

The brand was founded by Gustav Schickedanz in Fürth in the 1920s and revitalized by UNITO in 2011 as an internet pure player. After the bankruptcy of the mail order company Quelle, the trademark rights were taken over by the Otto Group in 2009. In 2010 UNITO started the business with QUELLE Switzerland from Salzburg. QUELLE Switzerland focuses on fashion & living, but also offers products from the home and technology sectors. In 2011, the QUELLE brand will also be revived in Austria. The success in Switzerland and Austria means that in 2013 the German QUELLE business was also taken over by UNITO. The QUELLE brand for the entire DA-CH region is controlled from the location in Salzburg and grew twice as fast as the market in the first half of the 2017/18 financial year.

Ackermann

Since the takeover in 2010, Ackermann has been the second UNITO brand in Switzerland alongside Quelle. In contrast to Quelle, Ackermann is more traditional. Ackermann is also characterized by a high share of brands and focuses on the areas of fashion and living. Ackermann is represented in Switzerland in the catalog business as well as with an online shop.

Lascana

In April 2015, the UNITO Group launched LASCANA, new special online shops in Austria and Switzerland. The youngest brand in the portfolio has since grown disproportionately strong.

sustainability

According to the company, the individual UNITO brands are increasingly relying on sustainable cotton from the Cotton made in Africa initiative and organic cotton.

In March 2015, project work began in Zimbabwe with the aim of providing schools in rural Zimbabwe, which are located in the Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) cotton growing areas, with improved access to clean drinking water and hygienic living conditions. In order to ensure sustainable success, the project is aimed at 5,000 schoolchildren who are trained as hygiene ambassadors for their families and villages. By the end of the project in mid-2017, a total of 320,000 euros had been invested in the Gowke-South project region.

Partnerships

Unito has distanced itself from a partnership with the controversial company Lyoness .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Unito reports record sales. In: cash.at. Manstein Zeitschriftenverlagsges.mbH, April 27, 2018, accessed on October 11, 2018 .
  2. ↑ UNITO website. Retrieved October 11, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Unito balance sheet: Internet trade is booming - print continues to decline. In: elektrojournal.at. Elektrojournal, April 25, 2016, accessed January 11, 2018 .
  4. ^ "Complexity causes": Otto Group buries Alpenwelt-Versand - neuhandeln.de - E-Commerce for decision-makers . In: neuhandeln.de - E-Commerce for Decision Makers . April 19, 2018 ( neuhandeln.de [accessed October 12, 2018]).
  5. ↑ Mr. Gutschi, what does Unito do better than Amazon? In: medianet.at. Medianet, June 2, 2015, archived from the original on March 15, 2015 ; accessed on March 10, 2015 .
  6. ↑ OKO company profile. OKO GesmbH & Co.KG, accessed on January 11, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Unito reports a new record. motopress Werbe- und Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, February 13, 2018, accessed on October 11, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Universal.at celebrates its 20th birthday with a comprehensive relaunch. In: cash.at. Cash, February 17, 2017, accessed January 11, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Source: 90th anniversary and 10 percent sales growth. In: sn.at. Salzburger Nachrichten, October 24, 2017, archived from the original on October 12, 2018 .;
  10. ↑ Lascana now online in Austria. In: textilzeitung.at. Österreichische Textilzeitung, May 6, 2015, accessed on January 11, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Textile newspaper: Lascana generates sales of 200 million. Retrieved October 12, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Sustainable cotton at OTTO. In: ottoversand.at. Otto GmbH, accessed on January 11, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Clean drinking water, toilets and 10,000 hygiene ambassadors improve living conditions in Zimbabwe. In: cottonmadeinafrica.org. CmiA, December 14, 2017, accessed on January 11, 2018 .
  14. ↑ OTTO Versand not a Lyoness partner / UNITO Versand and their role - Ben Ecker . In: Ben Ecker . January 30, 2017 ( benecker.com [accessed October 8, 2018]).