Double-digit ecommerce growth for Beate Uhse in Germany

Beate Uhse launched a large repositioning process two years ago and it seems to pay off. Ecommerce sales of the erotic company saw a double-digit percentage increase in the core market of Germany during the first three months of 2015. Overall sales increased by 3.8% during the first quarter.

Two years ago, the Beate Uhse company launched its largest repositioning process since its founding in 1946. One of the things that changed, was the implementation of a whole new ecommerce platform. This caused some problems after the launch but now it’s time to reap, Serge van der Hooft, managing director at Beate Uhse told Twinkle Magazine previously. “Because of the problems with this new platform, the online turnover lagged behind and we have had to make major one-off costs. Now we can leave this behind us and it’s time to harvest.”

3% ecommerce growth in all markets
So, the ecommerce division achieved double-digit growth in Germany and an increase of almost 3% taking all the different countries into account. Overall, Beate Uhse Group saw a 3.8% increase in sales (adjusted) in the first three months of this year. Sales fell by 4.6% when you compare it with the results of the first quarter last year (from 38 million euros in 2014 to 36.2 million euros now), but according to the company this was also due to one-off effects such as the withdrawal from the Norwegian and Italian markets and “in particular, the necessary closure of the strong-selling but unprofitable retail business in Berlin”.

Beate Uhse also published figures about their retail, mail order and wholesale businesses. Retail increased sales by more than 10% in the first quarter, with the launch of the new brand and shop concept having an impact on the sales trend. The German company also showed TV commercials in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, attracting a lot of attention for the brand and ecommerce as the principal distribution channel.

Last year, Beate Uhse started selling products via Amazon to customers in Germany, the United Kingdom and France. It wants to expand these activities to consumers in Italy and Spain in the upcoming months.

In terms of ecommerce, the German company operates in name of Beate Uhse in Germany, Poland and Austria, while in the Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic and the UK in name of Pabo. In France, customers can shop online at the webshop of Adam & Eve.