Visiting Internetstores’ Berlin, Stockholm, Stuttgart offices in the last years. Here is an update.
Find out more below.
Thanks for having us. Would you tell us more about the idea that’s evolved into Internetstores?
We’re proud to say that we’re Europe’s leading multi-channel supplier for bike and outdoor with around 40 online specialist shops across 14 countries, including fahrrad.de, Bikester, ProBikeShop, Campz and Addnature.
Our team provides customers with a comprehensive range of products aimed at recreational athletes and pros alike. Bike and outdoor fans will find exactly what they need from a selection of more than 1,400 brands and 120,000 products.
They’ll also benefit from expert advice provided across all channels. In addition to bike and outdoor brands of partners, the range also includes our exclusive own brands such as Ortler, Serious, Fixie Inc., Red Cycling Products and Votec.
Our multi-channel strategy means that we’re exactly where our customers want us to be: online, in store or even at home.
Your Business
When was your company established and what is Internetstores’ core business?
The father of our founder René Köhler, Rolf Köhler, was a long-established bicycle retailer in Stuttgart. He ran a classic bicycle shop in a typical specialist location just outside the city centre.
That’s where his son got in about 20 years ago and started selling bikes on Ebay. This went so well that father and son decided to buy the URL fahrrad.de together.
The entire Internetstores group has gradually grown out of this.
After Rolf Köhler unfortunately died much too early, the bicycle store was closed. Today, our new store in Stuttgart is in exactly the same building in which Köhler Senior used to have his bicycle shop for over 20 years.
Since 2010, we have Outdoor Sports as a 2nd business vertical besides Bike in Internetstores, too and offer products to our customers in the areas of running, camping, hiking, trekking etc. in dedicated online shops like CAMPZ and ADDNATURE.
Besides our great product range in biking, this has helped us to become more known in other European markets and let us grow to an international company.
In which countries are you active?
We operate around 40 online specialist shops across 14 countries, including fahrrad.de, Brügelmann, Bikester, ProBikeShop, Campz and Addnature.
Where do you see your company in five years?
Our goal is to be the most trusted partner for bike and outdoor customers in Europe. Having grown between 20-30% on a yearly basis with significant profitability we are confident to achieve this goal in the next years.
Are you using Venture Capital? And if – who are your Venture Partners?
Internetstores is a strategic investment of SIGNA Sports United. SIGNA Sports United is Continental Europe’s leading sports E-commerce platform, operating over 100 webshops in over 20 countries across the fast-growing categories of bike, tennis, outdoor, team sports & athleisure. In 2021 SIGNA Sports United took the next step and reached out for the North American market. In December 2021, SIGNA Sports United went public at the New York stock exchange.
Your Team
How many employees work at your company at the moment? Are you planning to expand?
We currently employ around 900 people in Stuttgart, Esslingen am Neckar, Berlin, Lyon and Stockholm. Due to our rapid growth we’re always looking for talented people. Take a look at our open positions!
What’s the average age of your team members?
Currently the average age is approx. 33 years.
What kind of attitude should new employees bring, in order to work at your company?
We are looking for new colleagues that want to create an impact and are willing to put forward their best effort to get more people on bikes every day and enable everyone to explore the great outdoors.
We want to make fans, not customers
That’s why a customer centric view on things is very important for us. Interest in the topics bike and outdoor is always appreciated for sure. More important for us is to find team members who are ready to work in a dynamic and fast-changing environment in ecommerce and want to shape our growth.
How does your recruitment process look like?
Our application processes are as individual as the exciting positions we offer 🙂 Depending on the positions, there will usually be between one and three interviews during which you will get to know the company and the people you will be working with.
Why is it fun to work at your company? Do you offer any employee benefits?
We’re offering future-proof, varied jobs with plenty of scope for creativity and responsibility.
At Internetstores, you’ll work with people from all over the world, with diverse professional backgrounds and personalities, who share the common goal of making our company as successful as possible.
We welcome every new addition to the team with open arms, so it’s therefore very important to us to offer every new colleague a varied job as well as a comfortable professional home with a great atmosphere.
Of course, we also offer great benefits: 30 days of vacation a year, employee discounts on our complete product range, great deals on a wide range of sports activities and discounted public transport.
Our newest benefit is the introduction of our new work model that offers up to 4 days/week of remote work. As we do not want to miss out on the socializing part of working at Internetstores, there is one mandatory day/week that employees can chose together with their team to work from the office. If you are interested in learning more about why and how we set this up, you can read the following article from our Director People & Culture, Nils Pollex.
Your Office
Where is your office located, and how big is it?
The space of our headquarter in the center of Stuttgart is 2.200 square meters spread over 2 floors. We are located directly next to the Stuttgart central station so easily accessible via public transport. The address is Friedrichstraße 6, 70174 Stuttgart.
Did you get help from an interior designer to design your office?
The design of our headquarter in Stuttgart was created by external interior designers.
What is special about your office?
With our office renovations in 2022, we can now offer different areas in our offices. We have a communal area on the ground floor for getting together for workshops, lunch and our Tuesday Breakfasts and Thursday Checkouts with drinks.
On the 5th floor, we offer the following areas:
1. Communal area – for cross-team exchange. So also for lunch and coffee
2. Collaboration area – open space for teamwork and joint solution-oriented work
3. We area – freely selectable desks, separated by noise barriers in some smaller areas
4. Me area – for concentrated work in peace and quiet
As we have a very flexible work model (up to 4 days/week of remote work possible), we can offer our employees a true new work experience. When the teams meet in the office once a week, they can book their workplaces in an online system.
The “Me area” offers ergonomic workplaces with brand new office chairs, two screens and height-adjustable desks.
Thank you Internetstores team for the interview and photoshoot!
Location: Stuttgart, Germany Website: Internetstores
Photos: Andreas Lukoschek
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