Commercial returns in a mail order company: The Wehkamp case

Abstract

Wehkamp was founded in 1952 by Herman Wehkamp in Slagharen, a little village in the East of the Netherlands. At this moment, Wehkamp is not only the largest home-shopping company in the Netherlands, but with over half a million visits per year it has the best performing webshop as well (www.wehkamp.nl). Since 1962, Wehkamp has been part of The Great Universal Stores, with headquarters in London. In the fiscal year 2001/2002, it had a turnover of about 318 million Euro and an operating profit of 30.2 million Euro before interest and taxes (annual report 2001/2002). The home-shopping market in the Netherlands is growing rapidly, as can be concluded from Table 9.1. © Springer Berlin · Heidelberg 2005.