![]() Logo of Trusted Shops | |
Trusted Shops | |
Company type | AG |
Founded | 1999[1] |
Headquarters | Cologne, |
Number of locations | 6 (2019) |
Area served | Europe |
Key people | Jean-Marc Noël, Michael Burdack[2] |
Number of employees | 900[3] (February 2023) |
Website | www |
Trusted Shops is a company founded in Cologne, Germany in 1999, which offers online shops and their customers trust-building services by means of a trustmark, a money-back guarantee process and a system of customer reviews. Online retailers are also provided with assistance in meeting legal requirements. Around 25,000 online shops display the trustmark as of July 2019.[4]
The company was founded in Cologne (Germany) in 1999 as a joint venture between Gerling Speziale Kreditversicherungs AG and the business consultancy Impact Business & Technology Consulting GmbH.[5][6] Jean-Marc Noël and Ulrich Hafenbradl were among the founders.[1] The company began operations one year later.[7] Its offer consisted of a trustmark for online shops, and from the very beginning the company also offered customers of online shops displaying the trustmark a money-back guarantee.[8][9] By mid-November 2000, around 100 shops had obtained the trustmark.[10]
Number of shops with the trustmark | |
---|---|
Nov. 2000 | around 100[10] |
Oct. 2001 | around 200[11] |
Nov. 2006 | 1.600[12] |
Jan. 2008 | more than 2.570[13] |
Nov. 2008 | around 3.000[14] |
Nov. 2009 | 6.000[15] |
Nov. 2010 | more than 9.000[16] |
May 2013 | more than 10.000[17] |
Nov. 2015 | more than 20.000[18] |
May 2017 | more than 25.000[1] |
The number of online shops with a trustmark grew in the following years. While there were 9,000 in 2010,[16] more than 30,000 trusted shops are currently registered (last update October 2021).[3]
In 2009, the company offered interested shops its web-based shopping review tool as a stand-alone version that is independent of the trustmark.[19]
Trusted Shops France SARL was founded in 2017 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Trusted Shops GmbH,[20] and one year later the Polish subsidiary was founded. The Spanish subsidiary was founded in September 2019 and the Dutch subsidiary in October 2019.[21]
The company’s headquarters is located in Cologne (Germany). Further locations are in France (Lille), in the Netherlands (Amsterdam), in Poland (Warsaw) and in Spain (Barcelona).[25] According to its own statements, the company employs 500 people.[3]
According to the information based on the financial year 2017 provided by Bisnode,[26] two Crédit Agricole funds (CA Innovation 10 and LCL Innovation 2009) jointly own 10% of the shares in Trusted Shops. Two private equity and infrastructure funds owned by French investor Omnes Capital (Capital Invest PME 2014 and Capital Invest PME 2015) jointly hold 4%. Sohano GmbH owns 23% and Entract GmbH owns 38%. 25% is held by Global Founders Capital GmbH & Co (belongs to Rocket Internet).