In 1957, the “Forschungsstelle für den Handel (Ffh)” was founded at the Institute of Business Administration as a separate research department. From 1957 to 1967, the FfH developed in the areas of university teaching (in the fields of sales and trade), consulting, the issuing of expert opinions, and inter-company comparisons in wholesale and retail trade. Under the management of Heinz Weinhold-Stünzi, the Research Institute for Retailing (FfH) was made independent in 1967 and became the Research Institute for Sales and Retailing, in September 2000 the Institute for Marketing and Retailing (IMH-HSG), and finally in 2007 the current Institute for Marketing (IfM-HSG). From 1991 to 2015 Christian Belz headed the institute as managing director until Sven Reinecke took over for 2015/16 and Marcus Schögel took over from 2016.

What dryly mentions the important key data was a path with many employees and challenging topics. One example: Those who today perceive digitization in marketing as particularly new will find various early writings by Heinz Weinhold in the Institute’s collection: Automation in Retail (1962), Screen Shopping (1983) or Interactive Electronic Media (1984).

Marketing and Sales remain exciting. Many thanks for the last 50 years – we look forward to the next.