About You (company) explained

About You SE & Co. KG
Type:Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien
Industry:E-commerce
Founder:Tarek Müller, Sebastian Betz, Hannes Wiese
Hq Location:Hamburg, Germany
Area Served:28 countries in Europe
Key People:Tarek Müller, Sebastian Betz, Hannes Wiese
Revenue:€1.904 billion (2022/2023)[1]
Num Employees:1,283

About You SE & Co. KG (stylized as ABOUT YOU) is a German fashion online retailer based in Hamburg. Founded in 2014 as a subsidiary of Otto Group, in 2018 its status changed to that of a portfolio company due to a shift in the shareholder balance.[2] Besides Germany, the retailer is active in 24 European countries.[3] The private label Edited is also sold in traditional retail stores.

About You focuses primarily on personalization and influencer marketing.[4] [5] In 2018, the company was ranked as the fifth largest online fashion retailers in the country.[6] It is also Hamburg's first non-listed digital startup company with a company valuation of more than one billion US dollars."[7]

History

About You was launched in Germany on May 5, 2014. The company emerged from Collins (an allusion to American management expert Jim Collins and his book "Built to last"),[8] an e-commerce project financed and overseen by the Otto Group, which invested a three-digit million amount in the project.[9] [10] Founders and managers were Benjamin Otto, Tarek Müller, Sebastian Betz und Hannes Wiese. Benjamin Otto is the son of Otto Group chairman Michael Otto; he left Collins in 2015 to become managing partner at the Otto Group.[11] [12] Hannes Wiese was the former head of the Otto Groups strategy department, while Betz and Müller were independent entrepreneurs whose former companies were acquired by the Otto Group.[13] [14] Before starting Collins, Tarek Müller had already attained some prominence in Germany as a young serial entrepreneur, having developed his first income-generating website at the age of 13.[15] [16] [17]

About You webshops were launched in Austria and Switzerland (2015), the Netherlands and Belgium (2017), Poland and the Czech Republic (2018), Hungary, Slovakia and Romania (2019), Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Croatia (2020).

In 2016, the investment firms SevenVentures, a subsidiary of the German media company ProSiebenSat.1 Media, and German Media Pool bought a minority stake in the company. Three years after its founding, the investors valued About You at more than 300 million euros.[18] In July 2018, the Danish company Heartland A/S, parent of the Bestseller clothing company, acquired a 29 % stake in About You.[19] In this context, About You was valued at over one billion dollars, making the online retailer the first Hamburg-based unicorn.[20] Otto, though still owning the largest share of the company, now held less than 50%, and About You was deconsolidated.[21]

Since November 2017, About You has offered its e-commerce infrastructure (software for webshops), an in-house development, under the name "About You Cloud" as a licensed product to other online retailers.[22]

Corporate affairs

The key trends for About You are (as at the financial year ending February 28):[23] [24] [25] [26]

Revenue (€m)Net profit (€m)Number of
orders (m)		Average order
value (€)
2018283–115
2019461–114
2020743–79.8
20211.166–59.923.257.1
20221.731–12432.957.8
20231.904–22939.454.8
20241.935–11337.858.0

Expansion

After starting in Germany, About You was exported to several European countries. They started with countries neighboring Germany and then exported to various countries in Europe. From 2017, the expansion was made to significantly more countries. It is available in 24 countries.[27]

!Country!Launch
Germany05/05/14
Austria07/08/14
Switzerland26/08/15
Belgium10/10/17
Netherlands10/10/17
Poland08/08/18
Czech Republic10/10/18
Slovakia03/06/19
Hungary07/09/19
Romania01/10/19
Slovenia19/05/20
Estonia03/06/20
Latvia03/06/20
Lithuania03/06/20
Ireland04/08/20
France04/08/20
Croatia08/09/20
Bulgaria20/10/20
Denmark10/11/20
Finland10/11/20
Sweden10/11/20
Spain23/03/21
Italy14/09/21
Greece28/09/21
Portugal26/10/21

Business and marketing specifics

About You has implemented a cross-channel marketing approach with the smartphone app as its most important sales channel, generating 75 percent of the company's revenue.[28] The About You shop currently (2020) offers more than 350,000 articles from over 1,500 brands.[29] There have been a number of exclusive collection deals, e.g. a limited Disney collection and a Nike collection in 2019.[30] [31] The shop's target customer base are women and men between the ages of 18 and 49, but it has also started (in 2019) selling children's clothes.

The retailer's own brand Edited is sold via the webshop of the same name as well as in seven exclusive stores in Germany and Austria and by more than 100 retail partners in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark and the Czech Republic.[32]

Influencer marketing

The company cooperates with more than 100 local influencers (2019), many of whom feature in themed photo collections on the shop's home page presenting fashion styles they have chosen from the shop's product range.[33] Select influencers get to develop their own collections.[34] Among the prominent cooperators are Stefanie Giesinger and Lena Gercke.

Personalization

About You's shop's logo changes from "About You" to "About " after login. The webshop and the app generate personalized feeds and tailored product suggestions for customers based on former purchases, likes of brands, people and product groups and purchase probabilities of people with similar profiles.[35] [36] [37] In 2017, About You has been described as having "the technological edge in terms of personalization"[38] over Zalando and other German online retailers.

Events and TV

Since 2017, About You organizes the About You Awards, a yearly award show that honors popular influencers. The show is broadcast on TV by ProSieben, Germany's second largest privately owned television network.[39]

Starting on April 20, 2019, an afternoon TV-Show named "All About You – das Fashion Duell", with the company as official title sponsor, has run for ten episodes, also on ProSieben.[40] [41] It was succeeded by "Style your Star – It's About You", another sponsored afternoon format, running from June 29 till August 31, 2019.[42]

In 2019, About You has also started a collaboration with the organizers of a beach music festival, Pangea, which was re-branded as the "About You Pangea Festival".[43] [44]

Awards

About You has been awarded the Internet World Business B2B trade journal's Shop Award for the best German online shops for four consecutive years from 2015 to 2018.[45] [46] [47] [48] In 2017, the company won the EHI Retail Institute's Retail Technology Award in the category "Best Customer Experience".[49]

In 2019, the "About You Cloud" (the proprietary webshop infrastructure software that the company licenses to other online retailers) has received the "Deutscher Exzellenzpreis" ("German Excellence Award") in the category "Cloudservices".[50]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Annual Report FY 2022/2023 . aboutyou.de . 17 August 2023.
  2. Web site: Online fashion startup About You becomes a unicorn . Georg . Weishaupt . Gilbert . Krejger . 20 July 2018 . Handelsblatt . 10 January 2020 .
  3. Web site: Markets & Expansion . About You Homepage . 9 October 2020.
  4. Web site: Discover our brand marketing and content department . About You Homepage . 10 January 2020.
  5. Web site: Fashion platform About You launches in the Netherlands and Belgium . Pauline . Neerman . 11 October 2017 . Retail Detail . 10 January 2020.
  6. Web site: Umsatzstärkste Online-Shops im Bekleidungs-Segment in Deutschland 2018 . German . Largest online shops by revenue in the German apparel sector . Statista . 10 January 2020.
  7. Web site: Otto Group: ABOUT YOU becomes Hamburg's first unicorn. 2020-07-08. www.ottogroup.com. en. 2021-11-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20211117094634/https://www.ottogroup.com/en/newsroom/meldungen/ABOUT-YOU-becomes-Hamburg-s-first-unicorn.php. dead.
  8. Web site: Otto Group-Projekt Collins lüftet all seine Geheimnisse . Elke . Fleing . German . Otto Group project Collins discloses all of its secrets . 11 May 2014 . Deutsche Startups . 10 January 2020.
  9. Web site: Otto Group reveals its ecommerce project Collins . 5 May 2014 . Ecommerce News . 10 January 2020.
  10. Web site: Collins-Internetprojekt der Otto-Group zieht Jahresbilanz . German . Otto Group's Collins internet project takes stock of its first business year . 11 May 2014 . Welt . 10 January 2020.
  11. Web site: Benjamin Otto joins the Otto Group (press release) . 13 September 2012 . Otto Group Homepage . 10 January 2020.
  12. Web site: Benjamin Otto to become Managing Partner at Otto Group (press release) . 20 April 2015 . Otto Group Homepage . 10 January 2020.
  13. Web site: Otto Group acquires NetImpact and Creative-Task digital service agencies (press release) . 17 June 2013 . Otto Group Homepage . 10 January 2020.
  14. Web site: Management Board . About You Homepage . 10 January 2020.
  15. Web site: In conversation with Tarek Müller, co-founder and co-CEO of About You . 19 February 2019 . The Restless CMO . 10 January 2020.
  16. Web site: Häufig fehlt der Mut – Interview with Tarek Müller . Novotny . Rudi . German . Frequently, there is a lack of courage . Zeit . 19 October 2018 . 10 January 2020.
  17. Web site: Horizont Award: Das sind die Männer und Frauen des Jahres 2018 . Vorkötter . Uwe . German . Horizont award: The men and women of the year 2018 . Horizont . 19 December 2018 . 10 January 2020.
  18. Web site: Focus on growth: About You attracts investment from SevenVentures and media investor German Media Pool (press release) . 1 September 2016 . About You Homepage . 10 January 2020.
  19. Web site: Bestseller takes 29 % stake in About You . Pauline . Neerman . 22 August 2018 . Retail Detail . 10 January 2020.
  20. Web site: About You becomes Hamburg's first unicorn – Heartland A/S joins the fashion-tech start-up as a new investor (press release) . 19 July 2018 . About You Homepage . 10 January 2020.
  21. Web site: Otto Group remains on growth track despite difficult market conditions (Press release) . 28 March 2019 . Otto Group Homepage . 9 October 2020.
  22. Web site: About You offers its proprietary e-commerce infrastructure as an API solution (press release) . 23 November 2017 . About You Homepage . 10 January 2020.
  23. Web site: About You Fundamentalanalyse KGV Kennzahlen . 2023-11-30 . boerse.de . de.
  24. Web site: Publications . 2023-11-30 . ir.aboutyou.de . en.
  25. Web site: About You - Umsatz weltweit bis 2023 . 2023-11-30 . Statista . de.
  26. Web site: About You - Jahresergebnis 2023 . 2023-11-30 . Statista . de.
  27. Web site: [:de]Märkte: In diesen Ländern ist ABOUT YOU verfügbar[:] ]. 2022-05-09 . ABOUT YOU . de.
  28. Web site: About You und Zalando – Die Tech-Analyse . German . About You and Zalando – The Tech Analysis . e-tailment . 27 November 2018 . 10 January 2020.
  29. Web site: About You Homepage . 9 October 2020.
  30. Web site: About You lands another brand coup: online fashion retailer signs a strategic partnership with Disney (press release) . 7 February 2019 . About You Homepage . 10 January 2020.
  31. Web site: About You lanciert Nike-Kampagne mit Stefanie Giesinger . Oberschür . Rüdiger . German . About You launches Nike campaign with Stefanie Giesinger . Fashion Network . 29 January 2019 . 10 January 2020.
  32. Web site: Stores . Edited Homepage . 9 October 2020.
  33. Book: Maar, Stephanie . 2018 . Fansegmentation und Fanpsychologie: Bedürfnisse, Persönlichkeitsmerkmale und Prädispositionen hoch involvierter Fans . Fan segmentation and fan psychology: Needs, personal traits and predispositions of highly involved supporters . Interview mit Melanie Hartel (About You Blogger & Influencer-Relations) . Interview with Melanie Hartel, About You Blogger & Influencer Relations . german . Mannheim . Nomos . 978-3-8487-3669-0.
  34. Web site: About You und Lena Gercke intensivieren Zusammenarbeit mit "LeGer Basics" (press release) . German . About You and Lena Gercke step up their cooperation with "LeGer Basics" . About You Homepage . 8 October 2018 . 10 January 2020.
  35. Web site: Every catch your perfect match: aboutyou.nl is launching today (press release) . 10 October 2017 . Otto Group Homepage . 10 January 2020.
  36. Web site: AboutYou Data-Driven Personalization with ArangoDB . Krause . Florian . Arango DB . 10 January 2020.
  37. Web site: 17 Best Practices für Personalisierung im Web . Beck . Gabriel . German . 17 Best Practices for online personalization . Konversionskraft . 19 August 2016 . 10 January 2020.
  38. Web site: Artificial intelligence is Zalando's perfect match . Schröder . Miriam . Weishaupt . Georg . Handelsblatt . 12 June 2017 . 10 January 2020.
  39. Web site: About You Awards 2018: Biggest social media award show of the year celebrates its TV premiere and is market leader among 14- to 29-year-old women with a 27.3 percent share (press release) . About You Homepage . 4 May 2018 . 10 January 2020.
  40. Web site: About you baut Content Marketing mit weiterer Show auf ProSieben aus . Santiago . Campillo-Lundbeck . German . About You extends its content marketing with another show on ProSieben . Horizont . 8 April 2019 . 10 January 2020.
  41. Web site: ProSieben startet die neue Show 'All About You – Das Fashion Duell' . German . New Show 'All About You – Das Fashion Duell' starting on ProSieben . Fashion United . 4 April 2019 . 10 January 2020.
  42. Web site: "Style your Star – It's About You": Welches Styling-Team kreiert für Nikeata Thompson, Shermine Shahrivar, Eva Padberg und Larissa Marolt den perfekten Look? . German . "Style your Star – It’s About You": Which styling team will create the perfect look for Nikeata Thompson, Shermine Shahrivar, Eva Padberg and Larissa Marolt? . ProSieben . 2 July 2019 . 10 January 2020.
  43. Web site: Real Experiences Rather Than Just Classic Marketing: The Fashion Online Shop Is Creating an Innovative Festival Concept and Organizing the ABOUT YOU PANGEA FESTIVAL for the First Time (press release) . About You Homepage . 12 February 2019 . 10 January 2020.
  44. Web site: Nach Einstieg von Modehändler: So verändert About You das Pangea Festival . German . After the fashion retailer got on board: How About You has changed the Pangea Festival. Ostsee-Zeitung . 22 August 2019 . 10 January 2020.
  45. Web site: About You räumt Hauptpreis "Best of Show" ab . German . About You scores main prize "Best of Show" . Internet World Business . 23 March 2015 . 10 January 2020.
  46. Web site: Business Shop-Award 2016: das sind die Gewinner . Gaitzsch . Martin . German . Business Shop-Award 2016: The winners . Internet World Business . 1 March 2016 . 10 January 2020.
  47. Web site: Douglas awarded best multichannel retailer in Germany (About You Best Online Pureplayer) . Ecommerce News . 8 March 2017 . 10 January 2020.
  48. Web site: These are the best online stores in Germany . Ecommerce News . 6 March 2018 . 10 January 2020.
  49. Web site: Award Winners 2017 . EHI Retail Institute . 10 January 2020.
  50. Web site: Preisträger 2019 – Cloud Services . Deutscher Exzellenzpreis . 10 January 2020.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "About You (company)".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.