Mönchengladbach’s Mayor Heinrichs Visits New Reuter Logistics Center

In 2004, company founder Bernd Reuter transformed his craft business into an online bathroom shop, making him one of the pioneers in the industry. 17 years later, Reuter is considered Germany’s largest online retailer for bathroom products and one of the largest specialist and online retailers in the fields of bathrooms, lighting, and living, successfully driving its internationalization and just opened its new logistics center in Rheindahlen.

(Mönchengladbach) This was reason enough for Mönchengladbach’s Mayor Felix Heinrichs to visit the owner-managed family business reuter onlineshop GmbH at the start of his annual summer tour organized by the Economic Development Agency (WFMG). Managing Director Bernd Reuter, his daughters Jana and Sarah Reuter, and Volker Titzkus presented the current developments in the company to the delegation, which also included Dr. Ulrich Schückhaus and Rafael Lendzion (both WFMG). According to them, Reuter now employs 850 staff members and generated a revenue of 350 million euros in the last twelve months, up from 300 million in the entire year of 2020 – making it one of the winners of the Corona pandemic, like the entire eCommerce sector. With an average age of 37 years and a female quota of 52 percent, they have established themselves as an innovative, digital medium-sized company. Several 100,000 branded products are constantly in stock and available for immediate delivery. Three million visitors use the website reuter.de each month, with 77 percent of revenue generated in Germany. Additionally, the internationalization of the company was initiated in 2020, with first branches in France (Paris), Poland (Warsaw), and Switzerland (Bern).

Further Expansion and Scaling Steps

The centralization of logistics at the Rheindahlen site is an important building block for the further expansion and scaling steps of reuter europe GmbH. 50 million euros were invested in the construction of the highly complex property at Hamburgring 1, covering an area of 33,000 square meters. The free-standing hall will feature a fully automated high-bay warehouse, while internal goods transport will largely be handled by driverless transport devices. Additionally, a three-story office building with 2,300 square meters and a 1,000 square meter film and photo studio for the production of high-quality product photos and videos have been created. 400 employees are expected to work here in the medium term; the move from the previous warehouse in Viersen-Mackenstein will take place gradually.

New Company Headquarters to Follow in 2023

For the family business Reuter, founded in Mönchengladbach in 1986 but based in the surrounding area in recent years, the return to Mönchengladbach thus closes a circle – at the latest as soon as the new company headquarters in Nordpark has been realized. The innovative “Reuter Campus,” where state-of-the-art working environments are to be created in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute, is expected to be implemented starting in the first quarter of 2023. “I am highly impressed by the company Reuter – 250 new hires over the past year and another 250 planned in the next twelve months, that’s quite a number. It is particularly positive that the company Reuter is also considering the access and situation of the drivers. Together, we must manage to balance the requirements of the logistics operation with the needs of the residents,” said Mayor Felix Heinrichs. “Moreover, Reuter seems to be well-positioned for the future – especially since the next generation of the family business, represented by Jana and Sarah Reuter, is already at the starting line.”
Photo: © Reuter / Caption: (l. to r.) Dr. Ulrich Schückhaus, Volker Titzkus, Sarah Reuter, Bernd Reuter, Jana Reuter, Felix Heinrichs, and Rafael Lendzion