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 Retail#Shopper profiles, typology of shopper types ha ...

tax refund company headquartered in

Nyon Nyon (; historically German language, German: or and Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometer ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. The company is best known for

tax-free shopping Tax-free shopping (TFS) is the buying of goods in another country or state and obtaining a refund of the sales tax which has been collected by the retailer on those goods. The sales tax may be variously described as a sales tax, goods and servi ...

, a VAT/ GST refund product and also operates in dynamic currency conversion,

marketing services Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or manufacturer. Products can ...

, point-of-sale technology,

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

staff

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

, and

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

. It is the industry leader for providing tax refunds. 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. 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 March 2024, the firm had raised and adv ...

, which took a majority stake, and FEXCO for £118 million in 1999. 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 Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm Silver Lake, with Swiss private equity house

Partners Group Partners Group Holding AG is a Swiss-based global private equity firm with US$152 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 or customer segmentation is the process of dividing a consumer or business market into meaningful sub-groups of current or potential customers (or consumers) known as ''segments''. Its purpose is to identify pr ...

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 also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

, City A.M., the Moodie Report, China Confidential and The Hurun Wealth Report. In 2010, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore commissioned Global Blue to develop and operate Singapore's Electronic Tourist Refund Scheme. In 2011, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service selected Global Blue as the payment supplier for tax-free shopping in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. 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 affairs and was subordinate to the State Council. Its headquarters were in Beijing. History The predecessor was the ...

(CNTA) Quality Service Certification programme. In February 2025, Shift4 announced that they would be purchasing the company for $2.5 billion.

Operations

Global Blue employs around 2,100 people in 53 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 the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler ...

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 refr ...

restaurants A restaurant is an establishment 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 app ...

, etc.), and

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, 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 m ...

s in these locations.

References

{{Reflist 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 Apax Partners companies