The Otto Group, a retail and services company based in Hamburg, is streamlining its brand portfolio in Austria. In this context, the mail order companies Quelle Austria and Universal, which belong to the Group subsidiary Unito, will be merged.
From June 1, the activities of the two online retailers would be combined and continued under the Universal brand, the group said on Wednesday. Quelle Germany is “not affected by the merger” and will “continue to operate independently in the German market,” the company said.
Harald Gutschi, spokesman for the management of Unito, explained the aim of the measure: “As an e-commerce company, you have to be either very large or very special in order to remain successful in the market,” he explained in a statement, “The Unito Group embarks on the path to be great. That’s why we’re focusing on the lead brands Otto Austria and Universal. We are strengthening these two brands in order to become number two on the market in the long term.”