Media-Saturn-Holding GmbH

With a net revenue of 19 billion euros and a headcount of more than 60,000 in 2008, Media Markt and Saturn are Germany and Europe’s number one consumer electronics retailers. The success enjoyed by the two retail brands, both housed under the roof of Media-Saturn-Holding GmbH, is based on a unique selection of low-priced brand-name products, excellent service and staff, a distinctive advertising presence and a decentralised organizational structure. The Media Markt and Saturn brands are managed independently of one another and are competing retail brands. The Media-Saturn Corporate Group, in which METRO AG has a majority shareholding, currently has over 800 stores in 16 European countries.

Pre-existing situation & UTCFS’s role

Driven by the nature of their business but also by their strong and continued international expansion, Media-Saturn-Holding GmbH (MSH) has high standards when it comes to security for their stores. Therefore MSH continuously seeks to improve their security systems and is always on the lookout for partners that can provide a standardised solution, one that meets their high security demands, but that is flexible enough to adapt to country specific requirements. Bringing a vast international coverage and high-quality solutions to the table, UTCFS proved to be an ideal security partner for MSH to work with - one that can provide standardised systems in multiple countries while fully complying to all local security regulations. After a series of discussions and defining requirements, the close cooperation between UTCFS and MSH was confirmed by means of an EMEA-wide cooperation agreement and could commence.

UTCFS’s solution

Prior to the formalised cooperation with Media-Saturn-Holding GmbH (MSH), UTCFS products were already selected to deliver the intrusion detection system for MSH stores in some countries. With this more pro-active partnership, MSH will use the UTCFS solutions for intrusion detection, video surveillance, access control and sometimes fire detection for new sites in all countries. Although each store may be different in architecture and size, the security system based on UTCFS’ s product portfolio is easily adaptable and scalable and will be specified according to local requirements, respecting the overall system concept and design and using the same UTCFS technology platform. It is this approach towards standardisation together with the close central and local cooperation with UTCFS that will contribute to drive efficiency and cost effectiveness for MSH for the future.