Cologne's hidden champions: Trusted Shops and Liftstar

Cologne's medium-sized companies are known for their innovative business models and international growth. Two strong brands - Trusted Shops and Liftstar - are outstanding examples of this. They prove that the city on the Rhine offers the best conditions for companies that focus on future-oriented topics such as digitalisation or a modern working environment.

Trusted Shops: a Cologne-based success story in global e-commerce

For more than two decades, Trusted Shops has been shaping e-commerce with its seal of approval, providing security for internet shoppers. The company has 30 million members worldwide and processes around 900,000 orders every day. This makes it a major player in the online world. In addition to the trustmark, Trusted Shops offers services such as buyer protection and customer reviews that strengthen the trust between retailers and customers. Of the 800 employees, 400 work at the Cologne headquarters. During the pandemic, Trusted Shops used the boom in e-commerce to expand its team internationally. In addition to Cologne, the company now has offices in Lille, Warsaw, Amsterdam and Barcelona. Now the company is looking to grow further and enter new markets. "In the long term, we want to create a comprehensive trust ecosystem that covers not only e-commerce but also other areas of daily life," says founder and CEO Jean-Marc Noël. “Cologne is an excellent location for this. Cologne is very well positioned in Europe and the local digital industry is strong. These factors will help us to expand our network, find new customers and highly qualified specialists.”

Liftstar: new working environments for growth

Growth at all costs - that is also the motto of the Cologne-based family business Liftstar, which is now the market leader for lift solutions in Germany and Austria and also sells them in South Africa. Its best-known brand is Lifta. In 2023, the company invested in the expansion of innovative working environments. The new Liftstar Campus in Cologne's Marsdorf district was designed in close cooperation with employees and offers flexible workspaces, parent-child offices and a cafeteria. The expansion was necessary to keep pace with the company's strong staff growth, which has increased by 70 per cent since 2016. "The openness and transparency of the new building reflect the core values of our corporate culture and send a signal to potential employees," says Stefan Seick, managing partner of the Liftstar Group. He says that Cologne is particularly attractive to young people, which will enable the company to grow successfully in the long term. Liftstar operates in a booming market. The company recently achieved a turnover of more than 220 million euros, and the trend is upwards.

Cologne: an ideal location for sustainable growth

Trusted Shops and Liftstar are two examples of how versatile and forward-looking Cologne's medium-sized companies are. Both companies benefit from the city's strengths - its central location in Europe, its dynamic digital industry and the high quality of life that attracts young talent. “Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of Cologne's economy,” says Dr Manfred Janssen, Managing Director of the Cologne Economic Development Agency. “They provide jobs, innovation and economic growth. Innovative companies such as Trusted Shops and Liftstar are prime examples of how Cologne offers the right conditions for national and international success. Cologne is a place where companies not only thrive, but also become leaders in future-oriented industries.”