Thalia

Thalia is a chain of bookshops in the DACH region of Europe consisting of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Located mainly in shopping centers, Thalia’s stores attract an unusually large number of walk-in customers. The primary owner of Thalia, which leads the DACH region in the omnichannel book trade, is the Verlag Herder publishing company.

Dr. Leif Goritz, Chairman of the Supervisory Board

Dr. Leif Göritz holds both a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in economics. He has worked as a management consultant and as a digital entrepreneur. He has run an internationalization incubator in China, served as a project manager at the Boston Consulting Group, and developed market strategies for several successful online and IT startups.

Innovation Award

At the outset of the pandemic, the executives at Thalia asked themselves a question: What would the bookstore marketplace look like in 2030 if they took no action during COVID-19? It would look barren, they decided. Given their own company’s robust ecommerce platform, Thalia would surely survive; but many smaller, independent booksellers, dependent on brick-and-mortar outlets, would not, thus damaging the entire DACH publishing industry. The solution was Shopdaheim (German for “shop at home”), an online platform set up by Thalia in March 2020 to connect independent booksellers with virtual customers. Dr. Leif Erik Göritz, Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Thalia said “So now is the right time to make radical changes to business models, because if you don’t do it now, there most likely is not going to be a chance to get it done later. We are pleased to receive this award".