What sell:active does

sell:active is a Germany-based Point of Sale (POS) and sales promotion agency headquartered in Bochum. Founded in 2006 by Jörg Schimann, the company delivers end-to-end services — strategic consulting, creative POS design, promoter recruitment and training, and on-site activation campaigns — for enterprise B2B clients. Its core offerings are organized into three categories: Strategy (consulting, sales solutions, graphic/POS design), Activation (POS activations, interactive promotion experiences, brand staging and live communication), and Personnel (recruiting and deployment planning, training, qualified trade show personnel). The firm operates as a private GmbH with a small core staff (approximately 15 sales specialists) and a nationwide promoter workforce of roughly 5,000 active promoters deployed across 57 locations in Germany.

The underlying technology stack is operational rather than productized: sell:active develops and maintains proprietary internal software for deployment planning, performance monitoring, and campaign reporting, and explicitly deployed these systems in long-running engagements such as the 1&1 POS project. The agency also developed Sparbar, a proprietary retail brokerage concept combining stationary, mobile, and digital formats for energy, telecom, and Pay-TV contracts, protected as a registered Wort-Bild-Marke (word-image trademark). Notable enterprise clients include Vodafone (which acquired 500,000+ customers via sell:active-run DSL promotions from 2006 to 2019), 1&1 (producing ~10,000 new contracts per year across 32+ MediaMarkt/Saturn locations since 2019), Vattenfall (30+ stores built with 18 active), and ongoing 2021–2024 wins with Clark, E.ON, HelloFresh, Enpal, and Imperial Brands.

sell:active generates revenue through bespoke professional service contracts, blending project fees, service fees, and commission-based compensation tied to customer-acquisition targets. Pricing is fully opaque (no public tiers); engagements are scoped per-project through direct B2B sales, free consultation bookings via Calendly, and inbound website inquiries. The customer base is exclusively enterprise and mid-market, and the go-to-market is sales-led and event-driven, anchored by long-tenured relationships that have produced 522 completed partner projects and 1,128,058 cumulative customer acquisitions across all campaigns. The company is family-owned (Jörg and Max Schimann) with no disclosed institutional investment, subsidiaries, or holding structure apart from a sister entity, Energy Center GmbH & Co. KG, founded 2013, which supplies complementary energy brokerage capability.

Name

sell:active

Legal name

sell:active Agentur für Marketing und Vertrieb GmbH

Website

https://sell-active.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

sell:active is a German POS and sales promotion agency serving enterprise B2B clients in telecom, energy, food, insurance, and consumer goods. It delivers consulting, POS design, and on-site campaign execution via a nationwide network of roughly 5,000 managed promoters across 57 locations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sales Promotion Services

NAICS

Indoor and Outdoor Display Advertising (54185)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Point-of-Sale (POS) & In-Store Promotion Services (BPAFAMAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Promotions, Shopper & Retail Marketing (Sales Promotion, POS) (BPAFAAAO)

Keywords

• Sales promotion services
• POS marketing agency
• Brand activation services
• Trade show personnel
• Event marketing services

Headquarters

HQ city

Bochum

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. POS-Aktivierung & Sales Promotion: sell:active charges enterprise clients (e.g., Vodafone, Vattenfall, 1&1, Imperial Brands) for the design and execution of Point of Sale promotion campaigns. Revenue is generated through project fees, service fees, and/or commission structures tied to acquisition targets (e.g., 'provisionsbasiert' compensation models). For Sparbar, revenue also derives from store operations and partner commissions.
2. Promotion-Personalbereitstellung: As an employer of a network of ~5,000 promoters, sell:active also generates revenue by supplying trained promotion and event staff to clients on a contractual basis, bundling personnel with strategic consulting and reporting.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

sell:active designs and executes point-of-sale (POS) promotion campaigns, sales activation, brand staging, and live event promotion for enterprise and mid-market brands across Germany. The agency also recruits, trains, and deploys a nationwide promoter and trade show personnel force, and develops own POS store concepts (e.g., Sparbar). Services span strategy consulting, creative/POS design, on-site activation, and transparent campaign reporting.

Product overview

sell:active is a POS (Point of Sale) and sales promotion agency offering a comprehensive suite of services organized into three main categories: Strategy (Consulting, Sales Solutions, Graphic & Design), Activation (POS Activation, Interactive Promotion Experiences, Brand Staging & Live Communication), and Personnel (Recruiting & Deployment Planning, Training & Brand Fit, Qualified Trade Show Personnel). The company provides end-to-end solutions from strategy development through creative design to operational execution, helping brands make products visible and salesable at the point of purchase. The core offerings include Sales Promotion, POS Activation, Interactive Promotion Experiences, Brand Staging & Live Communication, plus supporting services in consulting, design, recruiting, and training.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sales Promotion Direct customer engagement and sales promotion activities at point of sale, including promotion stands, product demonstrations, and active customer outreach to drive immediate sales for enterprise and mid-market brand clients.
• Sales Lösungen (Sales Solutions) Customized point-of-sale solutions combining strategy and execution, including sales promotion, lead generation, and cross-media campaigns designed for optimal sales performance.
• Consulting Strategic sales and marketing consulting services including market analysis, target group definition, goal setting, and strategy development for sustainable B2B growth.
• Grafik & Design Creative design services including graphic design, communication design, packaging design, POS design, advertising technology, and web/mobile UI/UX design.
• POS-Aktivierung (POS Activation) Point of sale activation services including sales promotion, lead generation, product tastings, sampling promotion, and interactive product presentations at retail locations.
• Recruiting & Einsatzplanung (Recruiting & Deployment Planning) Personnel recruitment and deployment planning for promotion and trade show events, providing trained promoters, hosts, and experienced sales staff nationwide across Germany.
• Interaktive Promotion-Erlebnisse (Interactive Promotion Experiences) Interactive promotion experiences including prize draws, participation-based promotions, and experience communication that engages customers actively with brands.
• Markeninszenierung & Live-Kommunikation (Brand Staging & Live Communication) Brand activation and live communication services including roadshows, event and festival promotion, trade show promotion, and street promotion for maximum brand visibility.
• Schulung & Markenfit (Training & Brand Fit) Sales training and promotion training services including internal training, brand briefing, customer approach and sales training, and soft skills coaching for promotion personnel.
• Qualifiziertes Messepersonal (Qualified Trade Show Personnel) Qualified trade show personnel services providing linguistically proficient, sales-strong staff for professional company representation at exhibitions and events.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1,128,058 customers acquired across all campaigns
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Energy Center (Energy Center GmbH & Co. KG)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013sell:active co-founder Jörg Schimann established Energy Center in 2013 as a sister company to sell:active. Energy Center serves as a strategic partner providing additional consulting, energy brokerage, and sales solutions. The two companies operate synergistically — Energy Center's expertise in energy solutions complements sell:active's promotion and POS services.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• redblue GmbH: German sales activation and field marketing agency focused on POS campaigns, retail activation, and promoter deployment. Direct peer in scale and service offering.
• Ippolito Fleitz Group: German brand space and POS design agency creating retail and showroom concepts, including work for Vattenfall stores. Comparable because of the overlap in physical retail/POS design services that sell:active also delivers via its Sparbar and Vattenfall projects.
• facts and fiction GmbH: German experiential marketing and live communication agency delivering brand experiences, events, and activations for enterprise clients. Comparable for the live communication and event promotion portion of sell:active's service mix.
• BSS Brand Communication & Sales Support GmbH: German sales promotion and field marketing specialist serving enterprise clients with POS activation, promoter staffing, and brand campaigns. Similar mid-sized agency profile and service portfolio to sell:active.
• KMS Team GmbH: German sales and marketing agency offering POS promotion, field marketing, and event staffing across Germany. Most directly comparable to sell:active in service mix and target client base of enterprise brands.
• Avantgarde Gesellschaft für Kommunikation mbH: German brand experience and event marketing agency with strong POS and live activation capabilities. Comparable to sell:active for brand staging and live communication services.

Broad incumbents

• Jung von Matt AG: Leading German creative agency with brand activation, retail, and live communication services. Comparable for the brand staging and live marketing portion of sell:active's offering, though at a much larger scale.
• Scholz & Friends Group: Major German creative agency group with brand activation and retail marketing capabilities. Overlaps with sell:active's POS design and brand activation services but operates at much larger scale.
• Serviceplan Group: Europe's largest independent agency group with full-service marketing including POS, retail, and sales activation. Comparable for enterprise client work but at significantly greater scale and service breadth.
• Ströer SE & Co. KGaA: Large publicly-listed German out-of-home advertising and retail media company with significant POS and retail marketing capabilities. Much broader portfolio than sell:active but overlapping on the physical retail activation layer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 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 sell:active