The toy business is highly competitive and not very lucrative. The Otto Group also feels this – and pulls the ripcord. The company’s own Mytoys.de platform and associated shops will be closed. Hundreds of employees are affected.
The Hamburg-based Otto Group will cease operations of the toy platform Mytoys.de and will close all branches by February 2024. In the future, the Mytoys brand will only be offered on the Otto platform, the group announced. A reconciliation of interests is to be negotiated and a social plan drawn up for the approximately 800 employees affected in the Mytoys administration in Berlin and the 19 stationary shops.
“Of course, this decision was extremely difficult for us, especially in view of the committed and professional work of all Mytoys employees,” explained Otto’s e-commerce director Sebastian Klauke. But in view of the business model, which has been in deficit for years, there is no alternative.
Despite multiple strategic reorientations and high investments, the company has not achieved a solid economic performance and the required sustainable profitability, explained Otto. Against this background, the success of an “absolutely necessary turnaround”, combined with further high investments and increasing cost and market pressure, can neither be planned seriously nor realistically, it was said.
In addition, the competitive and low-margin toys segment is easier to manage profitably within Otto’s marketplace. The group company Limango, which previously operated under the umbrella of the Mytoys Group, is not affected by the closure. “Limango is very successful with its business model of a private shopping community for families and plans to continue to grow independently and sustainably,” says the company.
