Candy and flowers will still go together on 1-800-Flowers.com Inc.’s e-commerce site, but Fannie May and Harry London confections will have a new owner.
1-800-Flowers.com, No. 57 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide, plans to sell its Fannie May candy business to chocolate maker Ferrero International SA for $115 million in a cash deal, the companies said this week. Italy-based Ferrero will acquire all the outstanding equity of Fannie May, including its subsidiaries Fannie May Confections Inc. and Harry London Candies Inc.
As part of the deal, expected to close by May 30, 1-800-Flowers will distribute those brands and certain Ferrero products through its e-commerce channels and in gift baskets and towers sold in various retail stores in the United States. “The strategic commercial agreement with Ferrero will enable us to continue offering the iconic Fannie May and Harry London chocolate brands across our e-commerce and wholesale channels and expand our product offerings to include some of Ferrero’s world-renowned chocolate confectionery brands, including Nutella, Ferrero Rocher and Raffaello,” 1-800-Flowers CEO Chris McCann said.
In other e-commerce news:
- Gap Inc. (No. 20 in the Top 500) has named Mark Breitbard president and CEO of Banana Republic. Breitbard will report to Art Peck, president and CEO of Gap Inc., and will serve on the company’s senior leadership team. Peck will continue to directly oversee Banana Republic until Breitbard joins the company in early May. Breitbard served as CEO at The Gymboree Corp. (No. 365) from 2013 until earlier this year.
- Target Corp. (No. 22) promoted Rich Agostino to chief information security officer. Agostino, who has been with Target since 2014, replaces Brad Maiorino, who is moving to the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. Target hired Mairoino into the then-new role of chief information security officer following its 2013 data breach that exposed data on 70 million Target customers.
- Amazon.com Inc. (No. 1), happy that it was ranked the best in the recently released American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) with a score of 86, on Thursday donated 5% of the purchase price of eligible products to charity. ACSI surveyed over 10,000 customers to measure perceptions of quality and value across retailers nationwide. The 5%, which is 10 times Amazon’s usual donation rate, went to customers’ charity of choice when they shopped on AmazonSmile. The retailer says it has donated more than $46 million to date. “Customer obsession is the very heart of our approach, and it’s energizing to see customers respond,” CEO Jeff Bezos said.