What empiriecom.com does

Empiriecom GmbH & Co. KG is a privately held, Germany-based e-commerce platform-as-a-service provider founded in 2015 and operationally headquartered in Weismain, Bavaria. It is structurally embedded in the BAUR-Gruppe and, through it, the Otto Group (FY 2023/2024 revenue ~€15 billion, ~38,500 employees). The company sells a modular, API-first commerce suite — five modules (Shop Frontend, Shop Apps, Content Management on Drupal, Product Search, Order Management) — built on a MACH architecture, with bundled native iOS/Android shopping apps included in suite pricing. The platform currently processes over €1.6 billion in annual order volume and serves large enterprise online retailers across the DACH region and the Netherlands; named customers include BAUR Group (baur.de), Otto Austria Group, OTTO B.V. (OTTO.nl, LASCANA.nl), LASCANA AT/CH, BabyOne, Manufactum, heine, Bonprix, and Witt-Gruppe.

The business operates a B2B, sales-led go-to-market model with two distribution paths: direct enterprise sales led by CEO Ralf Männlein and the business-development/sales team, and a Tier-1 channel partnership with adesso (expanded 11 February 2025) that resells and implements the suite. Empiriecom also monetizes professional services (UX Research, UX/UI Design, BI & Analytics, Agile coaching) and project-based implementation work, e.g., the OTTO.nl/LASCANA.nl replatforming project from May 2024 to Go-Live in January/February 2025. Pricing is enterprise quote-based, multi-year, and not publicly disclosed. The company's strategic positioning emphasizes digital sovereignty: the "German Digital Commerce Operating Model," co-launched with STACKIT and adesso on 27 January 2026, anchors the platform, cloud, and integration stack entirely in Germany and Austria under GDPR and BSI compliance as an alternative to US hyperscalers.

Embedded AI features (Search Buddy GenAI search, AI-SEO-Assistant for Drupal, KPI-driven business rule engine for search, and third-party GK AIR Personalization) sit alongside an active AI talent-development program (first internal AI Day on 28 May 2026). The platform's accessibility work, including baur.de's Top-10 ranking in the QualiBooth State of European eCommerce Accessibility 2025 study and usability testing with Pfennigparade in Munich, complements the broader compliance-and-sovereignty narrative. The company is privately held with no external funding rounds disclosed, with control resting through the Baur Versand GmbH & Co. KG general-partner structure within the Otto Group hierarchy.

Name

empiriecom.com

Legal name

empiriecom GmbH & Co. KG

Website

https://empiriecom.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Empiriecom is a German e-commerce platform-as-a-service provider offering a modular, API-first commerce suite (Shop Frontend, Shop Apps, CMS, Product Search, Order Management) serving large enterprise online retailers across the DACH region and Netherlands, processing over €1.6 billion in annual order volume.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Weismain

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. empiriecom commerce suite (cloud platform): The commerce suite is sold as a complete package to enterprise retailers — web shop and shopping apps (iOS/Android) are all included in the price of the suite. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; quote-based for enterprise customers. Modules can be combined individually or in full.
2. Professional Services: Revenue from Professional Services including UX Research, UX & UI Design, BI & Analytics, Agile coaching. Used both for empiriecom's own clients and via partners (e.g., manufactum expert review with 91 insights, Personalshop usability testing).
3. Implementation and Integration Projects: Project-based revenue from platform implementation and integration for enterprise clients (e.g., OTTO B.V./OTTO.nl & LASCANA.nl replatforming project lasted 7 months from May 2024 to Go-Live Jan/Feb 2025).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

empiriecom develops and operates a modular, API-first enterprise e-commerce platform-as-a-service (the empiriecom commerce suite), comprising five composable modules (Shop Frontend, Shop Apps, Content Management on Drupal, Product Search, and Order Management). It is delivered with bundled native iOS/Android shopping apps and is offered alongside professional services including UX Research, UX Design, BI & Analytics, and Agile coaching. The suite is sold primarily to enterprise online retailers in the DACH region and the Netherlands and is part of the German Digital Commerce Operating Model alongside STACKIT (sovereign cloud) and adesso (integration).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• empiriecom commerce suite: Core product portfolio comprising five modules: Shop Frontend, Shop Apps, Content Management, Product Search, and Order Management — modular, API-first, MACH-architecture commerce platform for online retailers in the DACH region.
• empiriecom Design System (EDS)

Products and services

• empiriecom Commerce Suite
• Shopping Apps (native iOS and Android for LASCANA Austria & Switzerland)
• UX Research services

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1.6 billion € in annual order volume processed by the empiriecom commerce suite (DACH)
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability8 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship / tier 1, core, supporting, tier 1 and core / tier 1.

• STACKITflagship / tier 1Strategic or Co-development Partner · 27 January 2026Cloud infrastructure partner in the German Digital Commerce Operating Model, launched jointly on 27 January 2026 with empiriecom and adesso. STACKIT provides sovereign cloud infrastructure in Germany and Austria, enabling a turnkey, GDPR- and BSI-compliant e-commerce alternative to international hyperscalers.
• adessoflagship / tier 1Strategic or Co-development Partner · 27 January 2026IT service provider partner in the German Digital Commerce Operating Model. Co-develops the commerce suite (since March 2024) and acts as reseller/implementation partner (expanded 11 February 2025). Brings industry expertise, technology know-how, and sales reach across multiple verticals.
• GK AIRcoreTechnology or Integration · 14 October 2025Personalization partner showcased in the joint webinar (October 2025) with Otto Austria Group reference customer. GK AIR Personalization integrates with the empiriecom commerce suite to deliver AI-driven onsite personalization (Markus Elbers of GK AIR presented the technological possibilities).
• ECC Köln (E-Commerce Club / IFH Köln)supportingGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 September 2025Empiriecom has been a member of ECC Köln (part of IFH Köln) since September 2025 — one of the most important networks for e-commerce, retail and digital business models in Germany, bringing together companies from retail, industry and services to discuss digitalization, market analyses and e-commerce trends.
• adessotier 1Channel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 11 February 2025Adesso expanded its partnership with empiriecom to resell and implement the empiriecom commerce suite to its retail customers. Adesso complements the suite with implementation, consulting, and integration services. The partnership aims to jointly address the growing market potential for dynamic and scalable trading platforms.
• Schwarz Digitstier 1Strategic or Co-development PartnerSchwarz Digits is mentioned on the empiriecom homepage as a partner with whom empiriecom (together with adesso) presents the German Digital Commerce Operating Model at events. Schwarz Digits is the IT/digital division of the Schwarz Group (parent of STACKIT).
• Adyencore / tier 1Technology or IntegrationAdyen is an integral part of empiriecom's payment ecosystem offering. Originally used by Otto NL, the Adyen integration was standardized by empiriecom for the BAUR Group, enabling access to a wide range of global payment methods via a single technical connection.
• PaybackcoreTechnology or IntegrationPayback 3.0 integration developed by empiriecom, offering flexible connection options, account linkage with Payback and customer coupons, and automated points calculation in checkout. Deployed for BAUR and Otto Austria Group.
• nexumsupportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerImplementation partner that successfully integrated the GK AIR Personalization project with the empiriecom commerce suite for Otto Austria Group (Jan Lippert of nexum presented the integration in the October 2025 webinar).
• Otto Group / BAUR Groupflagship / tier 1Strategic or Co-development PartnerEmpiriecom is part of the BAUR-Gruppe and member of the Otto Group — a globally active retail and services group with ~38,500 employees and €15 billion revenue (FY 2023/2024). Empiriecom is described as 'ein E-Commerce Full Service Partner in und außerhalb der Otto Group' and benefits from knowledge exchange (hospitalation), training (Barcamps, Communities of Practice) and access to group-wide infrastructure.
• Pfennigparade (Munich)supportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPfennigparade in Munich supports empiriecom's UX Research team in conducting usability tests with people with disabilities for accessible online shopping (Uselab), providing perspectives that automated tests/scores cannot capture.
• Microsoft ClaritysupportingTechnology or IntegrationEmpiriecom uses Microsoft Clarity as its mousetracking tool (free of charge), as referenced in the UX exchange with witt-gruppe (November 2025).
• SalesViewer (SalesViewer GmbH)supportingTechnology or IntegrationEmpiriecom uses SalesViewer® technology for marketing, market research and optimization purposes (consent-based under GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)). Data is hashed via one-way function and pseudonymized.
• Drupal (CMS)coreTechnology or IntegrationDrupal CMS is used by empiriecom as the basis for the Content Management module and integrated with the AI-SEO-Assistant. Empiriecom also attends DrupalCon Vienna 2025 with the Team Inspire.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• commercetools: Munich-headquartered, MACH-certified headless commerce platform targeting global enterprise retailers — directly comparable on API-first composable architecture, DACH origin and enterprise customer profile, and the most prominent German-born competitor to empiriecom in the composable segment.
• Spryker: Berlin-based headless/composable commerce platform selling to enterprise B2B and B2C retailers across Europe — directly comparable modular, API-first architecture, similar DACH enterprise customer base, and a comparable sovereignty/government-grade narrative.
• Shopware: German-headquartered (Schöppingen) open-source commerce platform serving DACH and European enterprise and mid-market retailers with a composable, API-first architecture — the closest DACH-based direct competitor to empiriecom in product, target customer and architectural philosophy.
• OXID eSales: Freiburg-based enterprise e-commerce platform long established in the DACH market — comparable on geography, enterprise retail focus and German-hosted/on-prem options, with significant overlap in the German mid-market and B2B retail segments.
• novomind: Hamburg-based commerce and customer service software provider serving enterprise retailers in DACH — comparable on German-hosted enterprise commerce platform positioning, sovereign infrastructure messaging, and similar customer profiles (Otto Group ecosystem overlap).

Broad incumbents

• Salesforce Commerce Cloud: Enterprise commerce platform within the Salesforce ecosystem — broad incumbent competing for the same enterprise retail accounts as empiriecom, with substantially larger scale and a different (US-cloud) infrastructure posture.
• Adobe Commerce (Magento): Enterprise commerce offering from Adobe based on Magento — broad incumbent with deep enterprise retail footprint and a wide partner network, competing directly for the same DACH enterprise RFPs empiriecom targets.
• Shopify: Global SaaS commerce platform competing for DACH enterprise and mid-market retailers; broad incumbent with overlapping commerce-suite functionality but US-hosted, contrasting empiriecom's sovereign-German positioning.
• BigCommerce: Public US-headless commerce platform with growing European enterprise presence — broader incumbent offering comparable SaaS commerce functionality and competing for cross-border enterprise retail accounts.

Emerging players

• Centra: Stockholm-based headless commerce platform focused on DTC and fashion/lifestyle brands — emerging player with overlapping DACH/Nordic enterprise retail customers and a comparable composable, API-first value proposition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 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 empiriecom.com