Bpost says the acquisition will offer more cross-border e-commerce services for its clients.

The Belgium national postal service bpost will buy e-commerce vendor Radial for $820 million, the companies announced today. Radial, which launched in 2016 as a spin-off of the former eBay Enterprise, offers omnichannel services that connect a retailer’s online and offline assets, and handles such tasks as fulfillment, payments and fraud prevention, customer service and order management.

Bpost says the purchase will expand its e-commerce services and offer more cross-border services for its customers in Europe and North America. Bpost expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of 2017. Bpost generated more than 2.4 billion euros ($2.82 billion) in revenue in 2016.

Bpost says it will use the acquisition of Radial to grow its U.S.-based international shipping business Landmark Global LLC, which delivers “millions of cross-border shipments” to more than 220 countries, according to its website.

“In light of e-commerce growth, the development of parcel logistics is one of the most promising areas in a new digital world,” bpost says in announcing the deal. “Bpost continues to deliver on innovation in this sector with the acquisition of Radial. Bpost seeks to capture the fast-growing e-commerce logistics supply chain by enabling a strong cross-border value proposition for its customers.”

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Radial’s clients include women’s apparel retailer Eloquii Design Inc., No. 546 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 1000 and Ralph Lauren Media LLC (No. 64). Radial is No. 19 in the 2018 Leading Vendors to the Top 1000 and has 260 clients in the Top 1000, Internet Retailer’s ranking of the leading North American retailers and brands by online sales.

Bpost says it expects Radial to generate 2017 revenue of between $970 and $1,020 million, and EBITDA—earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a common measure of profitability for growing technology companies—of between $65 and $70 million.

In 2016, Radial helped process 306 million online orders and more than $1.7 billion in sales, the company says. 21% of orders were filled during the peak holiday season. It  operates 13.7 million square feet of warehouse space globally. Radial operates 24 fulfillment centers and six customer care centers across the United States, Canada and Europe. It also says it has exclusive rates with shipping companies.

The acquisition makes bpost “a leading player in the e-commerce logistics business in the Benelux, Europe and throughout the world,” says Koen Van Gerven, bpost CEO. “I’m convinced that offering integrated and seamless e-commerce logistic solutions to our U.S. and European customers will help them grow their businesses. The expertise and capabilities of Radial employees are a unique complement to bpost and will help us in becoming a leader in e-commerce logistics.”

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Radial earlier this year launched Radial order management, which gives retailers a single view of inventory across stores and e-commerce and helps retailers offer store returns for online purchases and multiple delivery options including buy online, pick up in store. That service also includes what it calls intelligent order routing, meaning it can help merchants find the most cost-effective way to fulfill an order, such as shipping an online order from a store that is close to a consumer’s home. The new order management feature integrates with Radial’s other services, the vendor says.

Other recent Radial updates include:

  • Drop ship: Radial now works with 26,000 suppliers to deliver products for retailers as shoppers order them, minimizing overhead and inventory risks for merchants.
  • Radial Marketplaces: Radial Marketplaces helps Radial clients integrate with and sell on Amazon.com Inc. (No. 1 in the Top 1000), Jet.com, Walmart.com (No. 3) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s TMall.
  • Inventory Remarketing Services: Aims to help retailers move slow-selling or older products by promoting them on online marketplaces.

Radial ranks among the Top 10 vendors to merchants in the Internet Retailer Top 1000 in several categories including fulfillment, marketplace management and order management.

2017 has brought a flurry of mergers and acquisitions in the fulfillment and delivery space as companies look to compete with Amazon Prime’s popular two-day delivery service.

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Last month global, e-commerce technology provider Pitney Bowes Inc. said it would buy online order fulfillment and logistics provider Newgistics for about $475 million. Also last month Target Corp (No. 20)., looking to improve its online business amid increased competition from Amazon.com, agreed to acquire Grand Junction, a software company that manages local and same-day deliveries. And earlier this month, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. acquired Parcel, a company specializing in same-day deliveries of groceries and meal kits.

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