Global Blue is a tourism

shopping Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A typology of shopper types has been developed by scho ...

tax refund company headquartered in

Nyon Nyon (; outdated German: or ; outdated Italian: , ) is a municipality in Nyon District in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometers north east of Geneva's city centre, and since the 1970s it has become part of the Ge ...

, Switzerland. The company is best known for tax-free shopping, a VAT/

GST GST may refer to: Taxes * General sales tax * Goods and Services Tax, the name for the value-added tax in several jurisdictions: ** Goods and services tax (Australia) ** Goods and Services Tax (Canada) ** Goods and Services Tax (Hong Kong) **G ...

refund

product Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Produ ...

and also operates in dynamic currency conversion,

marketing services Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to empha ...

point-of-sale The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoic ...

technology,

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

staff

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

, and

customer intelligence Customer intelligence (CI) as part of business intelligence is the process of gathering and analyzing information regarding customers, and their details and activities, to build deeper and more effective customer relationships and improve decisi ...

. It is the industry leader for providing tax refunds, with Planet Payment as its closest competitor. As of 2014, some 130 countries levy VAT/GST, about 50 offer to refund VAT/GST to tourists for private

exports An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...

History

Started in Sweden in 1980, tax-free shopping is about refunding the VAT/GST levied in normal stores on the

high street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

to non-resident visitors who will privately export the goods purchased, according to the legislation in the European Union and other countries; tax-free shopping is not to be confused with

duty-free A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...

, which started in Ireland in 1947 and relates to specific stores (most often located in travel-related environments such as airports) that are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties. Founded as ''Sweden Tax Free Shopping'', the company later became ''Europe Tax Free Shopping'' and then ''Global Refund'' in 1998. The company was bought out by its management in partnership with

Apax Partners Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of December 2017, the firm, including its ...

, which took a majority stake, and

FEXCO Fexco is an Ireland-based financial services and financial technology company focusing on bureau de change and payment card services. Its head office is located in Killorglin, County Kerry. As of 2019, Fexco reports it has more than 2,500 staf ...

for £118 million in 1999. Global Refund moved headquarters from Kungsbacka, near Gothenburg in Sweden, to

, in the

Lake Geneva , image = Lake Geneva by Sentinel-2.jpg , caption = Satellite image , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Switzerland, France , coords = , lake_type = Glacial la ...

area, in 2001 for a more central position in Europe to manage its business then gone global but with a strong merchant customer base in European tourist destination countries. In 2007, Apax sold the company to Equistone Partners Europe (at the time Barclays Private Equity), which valued the company at €360 million. Previously operating the two brands Tax Free Shopping and First Currency Choice, Global Refund completed its repositioning, product diversification and rebranding as Global Blue in 2010. Equistone Partners sold the business in May 2012, for 1 billion euros to the technology

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

firm Silver Lake, with Swiss private equity house

Partners Group Partners Group Holding AG is a Swiss-based global private equity firm with US$127 billion in assets under management in private equity, private infrastructure, private real estate and private debt. The firm manages a broad range of funds, struct ...

taking a minority stake. On 10 April 2014 Global Blue announced the appointment of David Baxby as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors, taking over from Per Setterberg, who had run the company for 25 years. Following David Baxby a new CEO, Jaques Stern, has been announced on 18 May 2015. In 2010 Global Blue and the

Economist Intelligence Unit The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, providing forecasting and advisory services through research and analysis, such as monthly country reports, five-year country economic forecasts, ...

started to use the expression 'globe shopper' to identify the

market segment In marketing, market segmentation is the process of dividing a broad consumer or business market, normally consisting of existing and potential customers, into sub-groups of consumers (known as ''segments'') based on some type of shared charact ...

of "people who consider shopping as a fundamental part of their travel experience". Global Blue Intelligence's globe shopping data and publications are referenced by international and national media including the

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

, City A.M., the Moodie Report, China Confidential and The Hurun Wealth Report. In 2010 the

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Singapore in charge of tax collection. History Early beginnings The Singapore Income Tax Department was created in 1947 t ...

commissioned Global Blue to develop and operate Singapore’s Electronic Tourist Refund Scheme. In 2011 the

Australian Customs and Border Protection Service The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service was an Australian federal government agency responsible for managing the security and integrity of the Australian border and facilitating the movement of legitimate international travelers and ...

selected Global Blue as the payment supplier for tax-free shopping in Australia. In July 2013 Global Blue announced a joint venture with NTT DATA to offer tax-free shopping services in Japan. Global Blue is also a certified supplier of the

China National Tourism Administration The China National Tourism Administration (CNTA; ) was a Chinese government authority responsible for the development of tourism in the country. The CNTA was subordinate to the State Council. Its headquarters are in Beijing, with regional branch ...

(CNTA) Quality Service Certification programme.

Operations

Global Blue employs around 1,800 people in 51 countries, and provides services to approximately 300,000 merchants (

retailers Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

hotels A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

restaurants A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

, etc.), and

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

s in these locations.

References

{{Reflist , 2 Financial services companies established in 1980 1980 establishments in Sweden Companies based in Geneva Silver Lake (investment firm) companies Sales taxes Financial services companies of Switzerland Multinational companies headquartered in Switzerland