DirectGroup Bertelsmann has bundled Bertelsmann AG’s direct-to-customer businesses since July 2000. DirectGroup includes the company’s worldwide book and music clubs.
Fernando Carro heads the group, whose total revenues for FY 2006 amounted to 2.7 bn euro. The division’s more 15,000 employees do business in 24 countries, making DirectGroup one of the world’s leading providers in the direct-to-customer media business.

DirectGroup is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bertelsmann AG.

DirectGroup offers its customers a variety of media products on various channels from a single source, taking comprehensive advantage of both on- and offline channels. In doing so, DirectGroup is responding to changing customer demands - one of the central challenges in media distribution. Today’s customers display hybrid behavior: they don’t just want to buy on the Internet or only in stores, but wish to use all options: look on the Net, then order by phone; stroll through stores, then buy online– anything goes. Only a multi-channel strategy can do justice to this sort of customer behavior.


The strategy also makes good economic sense: in the media product business, a perfect integration of all distribution channels leads to an increased share of consumers’ media budget, while simultaneously yielding distinct cost advantages. This applies for marketing, fulfillment and new customer recruitment, among other things.