Heinrich Heine

What Heinrich Heine does

heine (legal entity: Josef Witt GmbH) is a German direct-to-consumer e-commerce retailer of women's fashion, shoes, accessories, and home living products, operating exclusively through the heine.de website, dedicated iOS/Android mobile applications, and a French-language sister site at helline.fr. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, with the parent entity Josef Witt GmbH registered in Weiden i.d. OPf.; the brand sits within the Witt-Gruppe, itself a subsidiary of the Otto Group conglomerate. The assortment is organized under three house sub-brands — heine CASUAL, heine STYLE, and heine TIMELESS — alongside third-party brands, spanning core categories including women's apparel (dresses, blouses, pants, jeans, knitwear, jackets, coats), swimwear, lingerie, shoes, accessories, and a 'Wohnen' (Living) segment covering furniture, home textiles, and kitchen accessories.

The technology stack centers on a proprietary e-commerce platform with personalization, web analytics, and a mobile app layer. AI-driven product recommendations are delivered via a partnership with GK Artificial Intelligence for Retail AG, while email and marketing automation is powered by Emarsys; customers can also engage via a WhatsApp newsletter channel. Marketing is purely digital, combining organic social (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest), paid search (Google, Microsoft), affiliate distribution (AWIN), and retargeting across Google, Meta, Criteo, RTB House, and Microsoft Advertising.

The business model is direct-to-consumer retail with one-time product sales. Products are priced at retail (approximately €9.99 to €149+) with seasonal sales reaching up to 60% off, and customers can pay via invoice, installment, credit card, PayPal, or cash on delivery. A voluntary 100-day return policy exceeds the German statutory 14-day minimum, and free shipping and returns are standard. Group-wide payment processing and credit scoring are shared with Otto Group entities via OTTO Payments. Trust signals include EHI Geprüfter Online Shop and Trust Ecommerce Europe certifications. The leadership team comprises Patrick Boos (Chairman/Managing Director), Marloes van Kooten (Managing Director), and Tobias Nieber (Managing Director) of Josef Witt GmbH.

Name

Heinrich Heine

Legal name

Josef Witt GmbH

Website

https://heine.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1951

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

heine is a German direct-to-consumer e-commerce retailer of women's fashion, shoes, accessories, and home living products, sold via heine.de, mobile apps, and a French sister site, serving women in German-speaking markets as part of the Witt-Gruppe and Otto Group.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Karlsruhe

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Product Sales (Retail): heine generates revenue through direct product sales of women's fashion, shoes, accessories, and home living products. Customers purchase items at listed retail prices through one-time transactions on the e-commerce platform. The company offers flexible payment options including invoice, installment payments, credit card, PayPal, and cash on delivery. Products are shipped directly to customers from distribution centers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Heinrich Heine (heine) is a German online retailer selling women's fashion, shoes, accessories, and home living products exclusively through its own e-commerce storefront at heine.de and mobile apps. The assortment is organized under three in-house sub-brands — heine CASUAL, heine STYLE, and heine TIMELESS — alongside third-party brands, with categories spanning dresses, swimwear, lingerie, footwear, business attire, evening wear, furniture, and home textiles. Products are sold directly to end consumers with flexible payment options including invoice, installment, credit card, PayPal, and cash on delivery.

Product overview

Heinrich Heine (heine) is a German fashion and lifestyle e-commerce retailer offering women's fashion and home living products through its online platform heine.de. The company operates as a brand under the Witt-Gruppe (Josef Witt GmbH). The fashion portfolio is organized into three sub-brands: heine CASUAL (casual everyday wear), heine STYLE (contemporary trends), and heine TIMELESS (classic elegance). Core product categories include women's clothing (dresses, blouses, shirts, pants, jeans, jumpsuits, skirts, sweaters, cardigans, blazers, jackets, coats, leather goods, basics), swimwear (swimsuits, various bikini styles, beach dresses), lingerie, shoes, accessories, and evening/formal wear. The living segment encompasses furniture, home textiles (bedding, curtains, carpets, bath mats), and kitchen accessories. The company also features business attire for professional women.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• heine CASUAL: A fashion line within the heine brand targeting casual wear occasions.
• heine STYLE
• heine TIMELESS

Products and services

• Damenmode (Women's Fashion) Comprehensive women's clothing collection covering everyday wear, business attire, and seasonal pieces, sold directly to consumers through the heine.de online store.
• Bademode (Swimwear) Women's swimwear collection including swimsuits, bandeau bikinis, underwire bikinis, push-up bikinis, triangle bikinis, bikini bottoms, tankinis, beach dresses, and beachwear.
• Wäsche (Lingerie) Lingerie and intimate apparel collection for women, sold through the heine.de online store.
• Schuhe (Shoes) Women's footwear collection including sandals, boots, and other women's shoe styles sold via heine.de.
• Accessoires (Accessories) Fashion accessories that complement women's outfits, sold through the heine.de online store.
• Abendkleider (Evening Dresses) Formal and evening wear for special occasions including weddings, cocktail parties, and corporate events, sold through heine.de.
• Business Kleidung (Business Clothing) Professional business attire for working women, including pantsuits, blazers, suits, and formal dresses, sold via heine.de.
• Wohnen (Living/Home) Home and living products including furniture, home textiles (bedding, curtains, carpets, bath mats), and kitchen accessories, sold through heine.de.
• Herrenmode (Men's Fashion) Men's fashion category accessible from the heine.de storefront, extending the assortment beyond the core women's focus.
• heine Kollektion (House Brand Sub-Lines) Private-label fashion lines under the heine brand — heine CASUAL for casual wear, heine STYLE for contemporary fashion, and heine TIMELESS for classic/elegant occasion wear — sold through heine.de.

Quantifiable outcome

• Serving over 20 million customers across Witt-Gruppe operations

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Otto Group (including OTTO Payments, bonprix, Baur Versand, and other members)coreStrategic or Co-development Partnerheine and other Otto Group companies share customer data for creditworthiness checks and fraud prevention. They also collaborate on payment processing through OTTO Payments, which operates as a group-wide payment and credit scoring platform. This allows heine to offer purchase on invoice and installment payment options based on shared credit assessment infrastructure.
• HermescoreOthersPrimary logistics partner for package delivery to customers within Germany. He handles shipping of customer orders from distribution centers to delivery addresses.
• DHLcoreOthersSecondary logistics partner for package delivery services, providing alternative shipping options for customer orders within Germany.
• AWINminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAffiliate marketing partnership where AWIN operates as the affiliate network, tracking referrals from partner websites and attributing sales commissions for qualified transactions driven by affiliate publishers.
• PayPalcoreOthersPayment processing partner enabling customers to pay using their PayPal account for secure and convenient checkout.
• EOS Deutscher Inkasso-Dienst GmbHminorOthersDebt collection partner for handling outstanding invoices and payment recovery in cases of default, operating on behalf of heine to collect overdue amounts.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Baur Versand: Sister Otto Group brand selling fashion, shoes, and home living online in Germany and Austria. Operates a similar online-only (plus some catalog) model targeting women and families, and shares logistics and payments infrastructure with heine.
• Bonprix: Sister brand under Otto Group (same parent as heine) selling affordable women's fashion online across Europe. Direct peer within the same corporate family, targeting value-oriented women with similar online-only model.
• About You: Hamburg-based digital fashion platform targeting younger, trend-driven consumers. While skews younger than heine, it competes directly for online women's apparel share in Germany with personalized recommendations and influencer-led marketing.
• Witt Weiden: Flagship brand of Witt-Gruppe (heine's direct parent) selling classic women's apparel, shoes, and home textiles via catalog and online. Targets the same 50+ female demographic as heine, with overlapping product range and customer base.
• Zalando: Germany's largest pure-play fashion e-commerce platform serving women across all age groups with broad assortments and rapid delivery. Direct competitor to heine in online women's fashion, with far greater scale, assortment breadth, and marketing reach.
• Klingel Group: German multichannel fashion retailer (Klingel, Wenz, Mey & Edlich) selling women's apparel, shoes, and home living via online and catalog. Closely comparable to heine in target customer (older women), product mix (fashion + home), and online catalog model.
• Peter Hahn: German premium fashion retailer offering women's apparel, shoes, and home textiles online and via catalog. Direct peer targeting a similar older, quality-oriented female demographic with comparable payment and return policies.

Emerging players

• Madeleine Mode: German online fashion retailer specializing in premium, classic women's apparel with strong catalog heritage. Comparable to heine TIMELESS sub-brand, serving a narrower but adjacent female customer segment.

Broad incumbents

• Amazon Fashion (Germany): Marketplace-driven fashion category within Amazon Germany offering women's apparel, shoes, and home goods. Indirect but significant competitor for search-driven demand, with structural advantages in logistics, Prime membership, and price discovery.
• H&M Online (Germany): Global fast-fashion incumbent operating a major online storefront in Germany. While not exclusively women-focused, H&M.com competes directly with heine on price points, assortment, and brand-driven digital marketing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/heineversand
• YouTubeinstagram.com/heine.de
• Facebookfacebook.com/heine.de
• LinkedInde.linkedin.com/company/witt-gruppe
• Instagraminstagram.com/heine.de
• Pinterestpinterest.de/heineversand

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Heinrich Heine