Retail chain Nordstrom Inc. announced this week that it acquired two e-commerce technology vendors, BevyUp and MessageYes. It did not disclose the amount it paid for either company.
“To continue to be successful into the future, we need to invest in technologies that will enable us to deliver on those qualities and better serve customers in a digitally connected world,” says Brian Gill, technology senior vice president at Nordstrom, in a release announcing the acquisitions.
BevyUp is a digital selling platform that Nordstrom says it will integrate into its employee-facing app in the coming year. In 2012, Nordstrom distributed 6,000 mobile devices to its stores so employees can check customers out in the aisles and email them receipts.
MessageYes is a conversational commerce software and the vendor will provide, “a meaningful addition to our existing depth of talent and experience in engineering, data science and machine learning–all skills that are essential to our future growth,” Gill says.
Nordstrom did not specify if BevyUp and MessageYes will continue to serve their clients; however, Bevyup’s homepage has a note from the vendor’s founders announcing the acquisition with no other information about the vendor on its site. Similarly, MessageYes has a note announcing the acquisition on its homepage, with limited information about the vendor. Nordstrom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MessageYes and BevyUp are both based in Seattle, as is Nordstrom.
Nordstrom, No. 17 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 500, has had a busy few weeks in the spotlight:
- Earlier this week, Nordstrom’s independent directors rejected a takeover bid that valued Nordstrom at about $8.4 billion.
- On March 1, the retailer reported its 2017 year-end earnings. Nordstrom generated $3.8 billion in online sales in 2017, according to Internet Retailer’s analysis of its fiscal year results. 30% of its full-price business came from online sales in 2017. Plus, use of omnichannel options like buy online, pickup in store and reserve online, try on in store grew 30% over the last year. The company reported sales of $15.1 billion for the year across its businesses.
- The retail chain also announced that starting March 19 it would sell more than 200 items from Anthropologie Home at select Nordstrom stores and on Nordstrom.com. Anthropologie is owned by Urban Outfitters Inc. (No. 40).