Since 2000, the administrative divisions of the British mail-order houses Grattan and Freemans have been combined under the umbrella brand OTTO UK. Both companies have been member companies of the Otto Group since 1991 and 1999, respectively.

Freemans PLC

In 1932, the mail-order company Freemans PLC, founded, among others, by H.A. Freemans, in London in 1905, ranked number one in the British mail-order business, with a customer base of more than 30,000 agencies. In 1937, the further growth of the company required Freemans to move to premises in Clapham Road, where the company is still based today.

In 1969, Freemans started to operate its automatic distribution centre in Peterborough.

In 1989, the company was sold to Sears PLC before it was taken over by the Otto Group in 1999, which had already owned Grattan PLC, another British mail-order company, since 1991.

For further information, please refer to www.freemans.com

Grattan PLC

The mail-order house Grattan PLC, Bradford, was founded in 1912 by John Fattorini. In the 1950s, deliveries grew to approximately 7,000 parcels a day. In 1963, the company's management team was expanded and moved into the Anchor House, a new administration building in Bradford. In 1989, Grattan started operations at Listerhill's warehouse complex, which, back then, was the most modern warehouse of its kind in Europe.

In 1990, Grattan became active outside of Great Britain for the first time, acquiring the Spanish mail-order company Arcadia.

The Otto (GmbH & Co KG) acquired majority shares in Grattan in 1991 and took over the whole company in 1996.

In 1999, Grattan formed a joint venture with the food retailer group Tesco, and the first "Tesco Direct" mail-order catalogue was published. In the same year, Freemans merged with the Otto Group.

Modelled on the Hermes Delivery Service in Germany, Grattan founded the company Parcelnet as in-house logistics service provider, in 2000.

For further information, please refer to www.grattan.co.uk

Otto UK

In 2000, the administrative divisions of the Otto Group's two British subsidiaries were joined under the umbrella brand OTTO UK.

In 2003, Freemans and Grattan started a fundraising initiative with "Breakthrough", an organisation focusing on fighting cancer.