Futures Thinking for an E-commerce Vision

The Otto Group is a group of trade and service companies active globally, employing roughly 52,560 people and generating a turnover of €13.4 billion. It is active in over thirty countries across Europe, North and South America, and Asia with holdings including thirty key corporate groups. With online sales of €7.7 billion, the Otto Group is one of the world’s largest online retailers.

Years ahead in just six weeks: As part of a consulting project, we developed an e-commerce vision that incorporates new sales technologies as well as changing customer needs and transformed living conditions. Using a storytelling approach based on broad, forward-looking research, we and Otto embarked on a journey to the future for it. The workshop also focused on expanding horizons – to look beyond the group’s own industry. From this perspective, we entered a design sprint and collaboratively developed innovative ideas that were then worked on further and tested as prototypes. 

The format of the forward-looking exploration helped us better understand different future scenarios and cultivate genuine empathy with our (future) clients.