Short version: OTTO is the online shop otto.de and the company behind it; Otto Group is the family-owned
holding group that OTTO belongs to, together with Crate and Barrel, Bonprix, Eos, Hermes and others. The OTTO Design
System (zeroheight, Storybook at otto.de/assets-storybook), OTTO Sans and everything in this repository's
design-system/, storybook/ and tokens/ belong to OTTO, the retailer, not to the Otto Group.
Sources: Otto Group Annual Report 2025/26 (EN, pdf, page numbers below), ottogroup.com, otto.de/unternehmen, OTTO Brand Hub, all read 28.09.2026.
What each one is
Otto Group
- Legal parent: Otto GmbH & Co. KGaA, Hamburg (legal successor of Otto GmbH & Co KG after the corporate accretion described in the annual report, p. 41). CEO: Petra Scharner-Wolff (since 2025); Chair of the Foundation and Shareholders' Council: Benjamin Otto.
- Self-description: „a globally active, digital retail and services group [...] represented by major company groups primarily in the three economic areas of Germany, the rest of Europe and the USA" (p. 13). German site: „Vom Versandhändler zur weltweit agierenden Handels- und Dienstleistungsgruppe" (https://www.ottogroup.com/de/ueber-uns/).
- Vision „Responsible commerce that inspires", Strategy 2030 with five priorities („Inspiring customers", „Scaling and diversifying", „Increasing profitability and investment capability", „Creating competitive tech capabilities", „Creating a culture of performance") (p. 3, https://www.ottogroup.com/de/strategie/).
- Fiscal year 1 March to 28/29 February.
Key figures 2025/26 (p. 2, press release 28.05.2026):
| Figure | 2025/26 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EUR 13.8 bn (+0.4 % comparable) | EUR 14.9 bn |
| EBIT | EUR 641 m | EUR 276 m |
| Profit for the year | EUR 312 m | EUR 165 m |
| Employees (headcount) | 34,831 | 36,304 |
| Active customers | around 42 million (p. 117) |
Structure, „Selected companies" (corporate overview, p. 13):
| Segment | Companies |
|---|---|
| Platforms | OTTO |
| Brand Concepts | Bonprix, Crate and Barrel, Witt Group |
| Retailers | Baur, Frankonia, Freemans Grattan, Limango, Manufactum, Otto Austria Group |
| Services | Hermes Einrichtungs Service, Hermes Fulfilment, Hermes Germany, Otto International, SupplyX |
| Financial Services | Eos Group, Hanseatic Bank (investment) |
| Further | Headline (investment), Project A (investment), Betterdoc, Medgate, Otto Group One.O |
Changes to note: About You was sold during 2025/26 and deconsolidated („Following the sale of all shares in About You in the 2025/26 financial year, the Platforms segment is dominated by the OTTO e-commerce platform", p. 69). „Otto Group Solution Provider (OSP)" and GEPA do not appear in the 2025/26 corporate overview; do not list them as group companies without a newer source. Segment revenue 2025/26 (forecast table, p. 117): Platforms EUR 5.6 bn, Brand Concepts EUR 4.8 bn, Retailers EUR 1.6 bn, Services EUR 0.6 bn, Financial Services EUR 1.1 bn.
OTTO
- The online shop and marketplace otto.de (plus the OTTO app), operated by Otto GmbH & Co. KGaA; in the report „the OTTO e-commerce platform", which also covers Otto Payments GmbH and Otto Finanzplus GmbH (p. 69).
- Self-description: „der größte deutsche Onlineshop" (press releases 2026, https://www.otto.de/unternehmen/de/presse).
- 2025/26: revenue up 8.0 % to around EUR 4.8 bn (p. 81); GMV around EUR 7.5 bn, 12.6 million active customers (p. 15). OTTO's corporate site shows „7,5 Mrd.€ Umsatz 25/26", „über 6.100 Händler/Partner", „über 19 Mio. Artikel", „4.900 Mitarbeitende" (https://www.otto.de/unternehmen/de, 28.09.2026; the „Umsatz" there is the GMV).
- Sub-brands visible in the design system and on otto.de: OTTO UP (membership), OTTO Market (marketplace for sellers), OTTO Advertising, OTTO Payments, OTTO home (own home & living brand, launched 2025/26), OTTO AI.
- Claim „Otto... find ich gut." returned as the central campaign claim in spring 2025 (annual report p. 27, „OTTO
brings back its legendary claim"); it is also a logo in the design system (
pl_logo_slogan.svg).
Which one to use when
| Situation | Sender | Logo |
|---|---|---|
| Shop, app, customer email, product or service page, OTTO campaign, OTTO UP | OTTO | OTTO wordmark (design system SVGs) |
| OTTO press fact sheet, OTTO employer branding, OTTO Market partner material | OTTO | OTTO wordmark |
| Annual report, group strategy, group sustainability, bonds, commercial paper, investor or creditor material | Otto Group | „otto group" wordmark |
| Group-wide HR, values, Code of Ethics, group events (e.g. annual press conference) | Otto Group | „otto group" wordmark |
| Content about another group company (Bonprix, Crate and Barrel, Hermes, ...) | that company, or Otto Group when shown as part of the group | never the OTTO wordmark |
| Hamburg campus (shared site) | depends on the author: the OTTO press area publishes a campus fact sheet with the OTTO logo |
Rule of thumb: if a customer can buy something, it is OTTO. If it is about ownership, finance, the portfolio or the group as a whole, it is Otto Group. Never combine both wordmarks as equal senders.
Visual identities side by side
| OTTO (retailer) | Otto Group (holding) | |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | otto.de, otto.de/unternehmen (corporate/press), otto-newsroom.de, brandhub.otto.de | ottogroup.com (DE/EN) |
| Name spelling | „OTTO" in capitals as brand; legal „Otto GmbH & Co. KGaA" | „Otto Group" in running text; wordmark lowercase „otto group" |
| Logo | bold italic wordmark OTTO, red, redesigned 2015 (ErlerSkibbeTönsmann), red tuned 2022 | lowercase wordmark plus „Superzeichen" (o and g merged), introduced 01.06.2022 (Strichpunkt, brand analysis Esch) |
| Primary colour | OTTO red #EB001F (RGB 235/0/31, Pantone 185 C) |
red #F00020 (web and PDFs), wordmark SVG #EE0020 |
| Secondary colours | service blue #213D4F–#C1DAEB, petrol #1E5A78, Sustainable Green #7EA87B, modular palette (purple, warm red, green, beige) |
pastels lilac #E7DAF9, salmon #FFD2C8, yellow #FFF59B, beige #F5F0E1, peach #FFE0CE; text #191919 |
| Typeface | OTTO Sans (Okay Type), OTTO Sans KO Black, OTTO Play (campaign headlines) | Optimist (Newglyph), Light as default weight |
| Headline style | heavy black or black italic, red on light / white on dark | outline line + solid Bold line, red, sentence case |
| Graphic devices | colour blocks, 3D illustrations (design system), OTTO UP badge | thin red rules, red single-line people illustrations, magenta-orange gradient with network lines (2025/26 cover), outline pill buttons on the web |
| Imagery | bright lifestyle and product-in-use, real employees in employer content | editorial portraits and real sites, warm light; illustrated hero images on the website |
| Tone | du, warm, direct, service („Wir sind gerne für dich da.") | wir/Sie, measured, strategic, values („Responsible commerce that inspires") |
| Design system | OTTO Design System (this repository) | none public; the corporate design by Strichpunkt is not published |
Details: pdf-style.md, websites.md, tone-of-voice.md, logos/README.md, brandhub/README.md.
Sources for the logo history: Otto Group press release „Neues Corporate Design der Otto Group: Optimistisch in die Zukunft", 01.06.2022 (https://www.ottogroup.com/de/medien/newsroom/meldungen/neues-corporate-design-der-otto-group-optimistisch-in-die-zukunft.php): „Optimist, so der Name, der der neuen Schriftart gegeben wurde, hat die Schweizerische Type Foundry Newglyph gestaltet." OTTO press release 02.03.2015 (pdf).