Stein GmbH

What Stein GmbH does

STEIN GmbH, operating as Stein Promotion, is a privately held German promotional merchandise distributor founded in 1984 by Peter Stein and headquartered in Öhringen near Heilbronn, Germany. The company sells advertising articles and corporate gift items across ten product categories — including giveaways, sports and leisure, home and household, electronics, bags and leather goods, baby products, writing instruments and office supplies — and bundles every order with free advertising imprinting produced on its own in-house printing press. The core differentiator is a full-service model spanning product concept, custom manufacturing, branding, warehousing (10,000+ pallet spaces), and delivery, supported by a 700-item showroom in Öhringen.

The company's technology stack centers on a cloud-based shop platform powered by CosmoShop that operates in three modes: a public direct-to-consumer shop (shop.stein-promotion.net), a B2B shop solution for closed enterprise user groups, and an OCI Punchout integration that connects the catalog directly into customer SAP and other ERP procurement systems. Single Sign-On integration into customer intranets, real-time price and stock updates, and automated order processing round out the platform. Field sales (Außendienst) covers Germany, Austria, and Italy, targeting banks, savings banks (Sparkassen, Volksbanken), and industrial/trade customers, while a public e-commerce site serves end consumers.

Revenue mechanics combine one-time promotional product sales with quantity-tiered unit pricing, recurring annual subscriptions for the custom B2B shop systems, and managed logistics services. The business is reported to serve more than 3,200 active customers across the DACH region and South Tyrol, with 50+ employees. There is no disclosed external funding, no parent company, and no M&A activity in the source material; the company is presented as a founder-led family business under Peter Stein's continuing leadership.

Name

Stein GmbH

Legal name

STEIN GmbH

Website

https://stein-promotion.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1984

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Stein GmbH (Stein Promotion) is a German promotional merchandise distributor founded in 1984 that sells branded advertising articles with free in-house imprinting to banks, savings banks, industrial and trade customers, and end consumers across the DACH region and South Tyrol.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Öhringen

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Promotional Products Sales: Sale of advertising articles and promotional materials with integrated branding/imprinting services. Products range from premium items to giveaways, including bags, electronics, writing instruments, sports items, and more.
2. Shop System Services: B2B and B2C e-commerce solutions including shop setup, hosting, and maintenance for enterprise customers.
3. Custom Manufacturing: Custom promotional article development and production, from design consultation through prototyping to cost-efficient manufacturing.
4. Logistics Services: Warehouse storage (10,000+ pallet spaces), fulfillment, and distribution services for customer inventory management.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Stein GmbH (Stein Promotion) is a full-service promotional merchandise company that sources, customizes, and distributes branded advertising articles. It operates an in-house printing press for free imprinting/branding, runs both B2B and B2C e-commerce shops, provides custom cloud-based shop systems with SAP/OCI and SSO integration for enterprise procurement, and offers end-to-end services including advertising concept development, custom manufacturing, warehousing (10,000+ pallet spaces), and fulfillment.

Product overview

Stein Promotion (Stein GmbH) operates as a full-service promotional products company offering an integrated portfolio combining a merchandise catalog, in-house production capabilities, and e-commerce shop systems. The core offering centers on the Stein Online-Shop as the primary B2C/B2B ordering platform, supported by specialized B2B Shop, B2C Shop, and OCI Punchout Shop solutions for enterprise procurement workflows. The product catalog spans ten categories: Streuartikel (promotional giveaways), Sport & Freizeit (sports & leisure), Heim & Haushalt (home & household), Elektronikartikel (electronics), Taschen & Lederartikel (bags & leather goods), Baby & Kleinkinder (baby products), Schreibgeräte & Büroartikel (writing instruments & office), Schnäppchen (bargains), and Sonderangebote (special offers), plus seasonal promotions. Complementary services include Werbekonzeption (advertising concept development), Sonderanfertigung (custom manufacturing), Import (international sourcing), Werbeanbringung (in-house branding/printing), Logistik (warehousing and fulfillment with 10,000+ pallet spaces), and Shopsysteme (custom cloud shop solutions with SSO and SAP/OCI integration).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Stein Online-Shop

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Global Supplier NetworkcoreOthersWorldwide network of reliable suppliers and manufacturing partners, primarily in Asia (especially China) and Europe. Long-term business relationships ensure best quality at competitive prices. Some partners like Schmidt Spiele focus on European production.
• Schmidt SpieleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuropean game manufacturer partner known for quality production without child labor and high quality standards. Part of sustainable product portfolio offering.
• Online (Brand)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrand partner offering products with European production standards. Contributes to sustainable and ethical promotional article selection.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Pfconcept: One of the largest promotional products distributors in Europe, offering a broad catalogue of advertising articles with in-house decoration, dropshipping, and ERP-integrated shop solutions — directly comparable to Stein's full-service promotional merchandise model.
• Halbach: German family-owned promotional products company with similar full-service positioning, in-house decoration, and B2B shop offerings targeting German enterprise customers — a closely comparable mid-market peer.
• Kendle & Partner: German promotional merchandise distributor with comparable B2B catalogue, custom decoration, and enterprise shop/procurement integration offerings serving German-speaking enterprise customers.
• Berndt+Partner: German Werbeartikel full-service provider offering catalogue sales, custom branding, and B2B shop solutions — highly comparable mid-market competitor in the German promotional products industry.
• Gift Campaign: European promotional gifting platform combining curated merchandise catalogues with branded packaging and direct-to-recipient fulfilment — comparable on the digital gifting/merchandise side of Stein's offering.

Broad incumbents

• Brand Addition: Global promotional merchandise and branded merchandise company with end-to-end sourcing, decoration, warehousing, and global fulfilment — a larger incumbent operating in the same product category as Stein with greater geographic reach.
• 4imprint: Large publicly listed promotional products distributor in North America/Europe operating a similar catalogue-plus-custom-decoration model; comparable business model though materially larger scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/stein-gmbh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Stein GmbH