Neckermann's motto was big turnover, small profit — the bill came due in 1976

Josef Neckermann founded a textile firm in Frankfurt in 1948; the mail-order house Neckermann Versand followed on 1 April 1950 with 450,000 DM of capital. His maxim — big turnover, small profit — priced the catalogue to sell. By 1965 revenue passed 1 billion DM and the group employed over 18,000 people, with 34 department stores and subsidiaries in travel (NUR), insurance (Neckura) and prefabricated housing.

The growth stood on thin margins and debt — liabilities had reached 131 million DM by May 1963 — and the competitors closed in: Quelle passed Neckermann in mail order by 1958, Otto by 1966. The 1973 oil crash cut consumer demand; his 1974 price increases drove customers away and had to be reversed. A 25th-anniversary '10 per cent off everything' campaign in 1975 lifted revenue to 3.5 billion DM and produced around 4 million DM of losses. The 1976 financial year closed 7.7 million DM in the red.

In spring 1976 Neckermann opened talks with Karstadt; on 7 July Karstadt was announced as the new major shareholder, and at the end of 1976 Commerzbank — the family's house bank — forced the Neckermanns to sell, the sons being personally liable. The sale cost the family 29 million DM of its 34 million DM private fortune. On 1 June 1977 Karstadt held 51.2 per cent of the new AG; Josef Neckermann left entirely in 1978. The rescue meant layoffs from an 18,000 workforce; the brand itself was liquidated in 2012, its name sold to Otto for 4.35 million euros.