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.

Company history Foundation 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.Ein Gütesiegel für Online. In: Horizont, 13 April 2001.bigOrder 2.0: Einkauf per Mausklick. In: Passauer Neue Presse, 9 February 2013. Jean-Marc Noël and Ulrich Hafenbradl were among the founders. The company began operations one year later.Online-Shopping ohne Risiko. In: Werben & Verkaufen, 28 January 2000. 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.Patrick Goltzsch: Sicher kaufen. Gütesiegel für Online-Händler sollen das Misstrauen der Kunden beim Shoppen im Internet abbauen. In: Berliner Zeitung, 17 February 2000.Heike E. Krüger-Brand: Qualitätssiegel „Trusted Shops“. In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt, 8 September 2000. By mid-November 2000, around 100 shops had obtained the trustmark.Schiedsstelle will Vertrauen in E-Commerce stärken. Interessengemeinschaft Trusted Shops bietet Beratung europaweit. In: Der Tagesspiegel, 15 November 2000.

Development

Number of shopswith the trustmark Nov. 2000 around 100 Oct. 2001 around 200Sven Heinemann: Gütesiegel hilft beim Einkauf im Internet. Das seit einem Jahr geltende Fernabsatzgesetz hat sich bewährt. In: Berliner Zeitung, 2 October 2001. Nov. 2006 1.600 Jan. 2008 more than 2.570Birgitt Loderhose: Mehr Online-Läden bei Trusted Shops. In: Lebensmittel Zeitung, 18 January 2008. Nov. 2008 around 3.000Lina Panitz: So ist Weihnachts-Shopping im Internet sicher. Kunden sollten sich vor Bestellung über Anbieter informieren – Vorsicht bei Vorkasse und unpräzisen Preisangaben. In: Die Welt, 10 November 2008. Nov. 2009 6.000Vertrauen ist gut, Gütesiegel sind besser. In: it&t-business, 1 November 2009. Nov. 2010 more than 9.000Mehr als 9.000 Zertifizierungen. In: it&t-business, 1 November 2010. May 2013 more than 10.000dataVERS kooperiert mit Trusted Shops. In: AssCompact, 3 May 2013. Nov. 2015 more than 20.000Daniel Mosler: Schnäppchenjagd im Internet. Der Online-Handel in Deutschland boomt. Wer im Netz nach Geschenken sucht, sollte die Angebote genau prüfen. In: Der Tagesspiegel, 30 November 2015. May 2017 more than 25.000

The number of online shops with a trustmark grew in the following years. While there were 9,000 in 2010, more than 30,000 trusted shops are currently registered (last update October 2021).

In 2009, the company offered interested shops its web-based shopping review tool as a stand-alone version that is independent of the trustmark.Meinungen von Kunden helfen bei Webshop-Optimierung. In: IT-Business, 12 October 2009.

Trusted Shops France SARL was founded in 2017 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Trusted Shops GmbH,Trusted Shops GmbH: Jahresabschluss zum Geschäftsjahr vom 01.01.2017 bis zum 31.12.2017. In: Bundesanzeiger, 29 January 2019. and one year later the Polish subsidiary was founded. The Spanish subsidiary was founded in September 2019 and the Dutch subsidiary in October 2019.With respect to the subsidiaries, see the information on the company website, retrieved 19 November.

Present Services Online shops are entitled to use the Trusted Shops trustmark after passing an audit that includes aspects such as data security, consumer protection, customer service, price transparency and creditworthiness.Trusted Shops bald mit eigenem Portal. In: Lebensmittel Zeitung, 22 October 2004. The money-back guarantee adds financial security to the promise that online shops with trustmark are trustworthy providers. Companies can use web-based feedback systems to have their customers review purchases or transactions. This includes, for example, the service, the website, or the delivered product quality. The system ensures that only customers who have made purchases participate in the feedback procedure.„Zentraler Erfolgsfaktor im Internet“. In: Creditreform, 1 April 2010. The legal security aid is offered in cooperation with law firms and includes, among other things, the drafting of legal texts (such as the General Terms and Conditions), checking websites for compliance with e-commerce law, and representation in case of legal disputes in Germany and other European countries.

Personnel and locations 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).See the company’s contact information on the website etrusted.com, retrieved 20 November 2019. According to its own statements, the company employs 500 people.

Owners According to the information based on the financial year 2017 provided by Bisnode,Trusted Shops GmbH’s company profile at Bisnode, information from 6 July 2019. 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).

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