Cimpress, the owner of Vistaprint.com, will acquire web-only office supplies retailer BuildASign.com for $280 million.

Cimpress NV, which operates custom printing e-commerce site Vistaprint.com, announced it will acquire web-only only retailer BuildASign. Cimpress is No. 23 in the 2018 edition of Internet Retailer’s Top 1000 ranking and BuildASign is No. 319.

Under the terms of agreement, Cimpress agreed to acquire 99% of BuildASign for approximately $280 million in cash. BuildASign will retain the remaining 1% share for employees who hold equity in the company. The deal is expected to close by October.

In its 2018 fiscal year ended June 30, Cimpress’s consolidated e-commerce sales jumped 21% to $2.59 billion, according to the company’s earnings filings. Netherlands-based Cimpress owns custom printing sites Vistaprint, Pixartprinting, National Pen, Exaprint and other international printing sites. It acquired National Pen for $218 million in December 2016.

In line with Cimpress’s growth, BuildASign’s web sales, including sales from its secondary brand EasyCanvasPrints.com, grew roughly 20% to $129.0 million. Its compound annual growth rate over the last five years is 23%, compared with 16% for Cimpress, Internet Retailer estimates.

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“We are excited to welcome BuildASign to Cimpress. They bring strong talent, a customer-centric culture, low-cost production operations and strong e-commerce capabilities that work seamlessly together to serve customers with market-leading prices, fast delivery and great customer service,” says Robert Keane, president and CEO of Cimpress.

BuildASign, which launched in 2005, will operate independently but will have access to Cimpress’s resources, such as procurement and technology capabilities, the companies say. “These added strengths will accelerate BuildASign’s already fast growth in home décor and reinforce their market position with business signage.”

Vistaprint will benefit from BuildASign as well, using its low-cost canvas print fulfillment operations for its home décor revenue—an area of its business it currently outsources to third-party companies, Cimpress says.

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“Through a combination of our large format expertise and Cimpress’s procurement scale and mass customization platform technology, we look forward to continuing to grow in large markets by allowing our customers to express their identity across a wide variety of products,” BuildASign’s CEO Bryan Kranik says.

 

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