Intershop Communications AG

Intershop Communications AG is a public e-commerce company headquartered in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. Intershop operates in Europe, the United States of America, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Company history

Intershop was founded in 1992 as NetConsult by Stephan Schambach, Karsten Schneider, and Wilfried Beeck. In 1995, the company created the first German online store.
That same year, they created "The first standard software for e-commerce applications." marketed in the U.S. one year later and became one of the leading software developers for this early market.
Intershop is one of the best examples of the "New Economy bubble" in Germany. The company value rose to $11 billion in 2000 and quickly fell to penny stock levels. Low earning warnings by Intershop caused widespread losses for other tech companies; in one instance, SAP's publicly listed shares fell by 8%. In 2001, an Intershop earnings warning spread through the sector, causing the Stock exchange segment Neuer Markt to slump nearly 10%. The company barely survived the crash but could keep operating and continue the development of products. About 30 spin-offs were founded, including Pixaco, ePages, and Demandware.