In fiscal 2011, e-commerce was the fastest-growing sales channel for Otto Group, the German-based retail conglomerate that owns all or a portion of about 100 online retail brands.

For the 2011 fiscal year ended Feb. 28, Otto, No. 2 in the Internet Retailer Top 300 Europe guide, reported:

• Web sales increased year over year 24.4% to 4.80 billion euros (US$6.90 billion) from 3.86 billion euros (US$5.54 billion).
• Catalog and store sales increased 7.4% to 6.70 billion euros (US$9.62 billion) from 6.24 billion euros (US$8.96 billion).
• Total sales grew 13.9% to 11.5 billion euros (US$16.52 billion) from 10.1 billion euros (US$14.51 billion).
• E-commerce sales in the company’s core market of Germany increased about 26.5% to 3.1 billion euros (US$4.45 billion) from 2.45 billion euros (US$3.52 billion).
• Total sales in Germany increased 20% to 6.6 billion euros (US$9.48 billion) from 5.5 billion euros (US$7.90 billion).
• Internet Retailer calculates the web accounted for 41.7% of total sales in fiscal 2011, compared with 38.2% in fiscal 2010.

“E-commerce has become the most important sales channel for the group,” says Otto Group CEO Hans-Otto Schrader. “We moved into online retailing at an early stage and are now benefiting in all of our business areas from the strong expansion of e-commerce.”

E-commerce also remains the growth driver across several key company segments, says Schrader. “Some of the individual group companies now generate around two-thirds of their revenue in e-commerce, such as the individual company ‘Otto’ which generates around 70%, and Baur, 64%. In doing so, Otto Group is maintaining its position as one of the world’s largest online retailers for fashion and lifestyle products for consumers.”