Reuters: Private Equity: German retailer Neckermann closes catalogue selling

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German retailer Neckermann closes catalogue selling Apr 27th 2012, 16:08 By Victoria Bryan FRANKFURT, April 27 | Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:08pm EDT FRANKFURT, April 27 (Reuters) - German mail order company Neckermann announced it was moving online on Friday, leaving more than half of its staff out of work as customers increasingly turn to websites rather than catalogues to buy homewares, furniture or technology. "The future of mail order is in the Internet. We cannot let this pass us by," the Frankfurt-based company said in a statement announcing an end to its print catalogue, adding that over 80 percent of its sales are now made online. "Too many of our resources are tied up in print. This is preventing us from developing neckermann.de," Chief Executive Henning Koopmann said. Other German companies battling to cope with a shift in customer buying to the internet include the book store division of Douglas and world's fourth largest retailer Metro . MediaMarkt-Saturn, the consumer electronics arm of Metro, has also admitted that it expanded its online offering late, with full websites only going live in recent months. Neckermann, owned by private equity firm Sun Capital, also said it would no longer offer its own-brand range of clothing, but would expand its online range of technology, furniture and homewares. The firm, whose first catalogue comprised 12 pages and a print run of 100,000 copies in 1950, said the plans would result in the loss of almost 1,400 jobs. The move means it will no longer need its catalogue printing site in Frankfurt and is seeking to renegotiate its lease on the building, London-listed landlord Segro said in a separate statement. Segro said Neckermann had paid rent up to the end of April and that it held bank guarantees to cover most of the remaining amount due in 2012 should Neckermann not pay. Segro said the site generated approximately 12 million pounds ($19.4 million) of rental income in 2011. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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