Less than a month into the new year, Digital Commerce 360 has tracked six retailer acquisitions and four vendor acquisitions so far in 2022. Last year, North American retailers in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000 or Next 1000 were part of nearly 20 acquisitions, as either the acquirer or the acquired company. But the string of retail tie-ups didn’t start until April, so this year’s acquisition list is already off to a fast start.
Digital Commerce 360 already covered Fanatics Inc.’s (No. 36) acquisition of Topps, but since then, retailers have made deals to expand into new territories, add experiential services and join larger supply chains.
Details about the other five retail acquisitions are below:
- Floral retailer 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. (No. 67) acquired Alice’s Table on Jan. 11. Alice’s Table provides floral arranging events to the public or to private audiences. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alice’s Table offered in-person events, but it has since shifted to be completely digital. For example, it now live streams its workshops daily. Alice’s Table first partnered with 1-800-Flowers.com and its subsidiary Harry & David in 2020, letting customers order everything needed for a workshop from the company’s stores. The acquisition will allow 1-800-Flowers.com to tie more of its products and brands into the live streaming workshops provided by Alice’s Table. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- Also on Jan. 11, outdoor equipment retailer Evo (No. 462) announced the acquisition of ski and snowboard retailer Rhythm Japan and winter wear brand Oyuki in a bid to increase penetration into Asia. Rhythm adds to Evo’s recent move into the equipment rental business, which Rhythm has long offered. Rhythm’s ecommerce team will also build up sites for expansion into other areas of Asia. Both Rhythm and Oyuki will continue to operate as standalone brands with their existing management teams. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- Golf club fitter Club Champion acquired Canadian fitter and golf equipment seller Tour Experience Golf (No. 1623), also known as TXG, in another deal announced Jan. 11. The acquisition gives Club Champion access to the Canadian market. Club Champion’s business is built mainly around its custom-crafted clubs, but TXG brings some ecommerce options to the table with an online storefront for golfing accessories. Both brands also operate on various social channels, particularly focused on video content to promote and educate clients. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- Pet product supplier Worldwise acquired Furhaven Pet Products (No. 1821), again announced on Jan. 11. Furhaven sells bedding, travel supplies, apparel and other pet goods directly on its ecommerce site. Worldwise owns brands sold wholesale to retailers, including SmartyKat, TrustyPup and Petlinks. Furhaven sells its own designs, so Worldwise won’t be adding any outside brands to its lineup, but this is its first foray into direct ecommerce. Worldwise is owned by private equity investment fund A&M Capital Partners. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- On Jan. 14, Amazon-focused brand aggregator Thrasio announced its acquisition of India’s Livelong Online. This is the first move into India for Thrasio, which owns more than 200 brands with a focus on Amazon-based businesses. Livelong owns a variety of Indian brands selling on Flipkart, Walmart and Amazon, but it does not disclose the number of brands it operates. As part of the deal, Thrasio plans to spend $500 million to acquire new Indian brands. Thrasio has raised more than $3.4 billion to date. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In vendor acquisition news:
- Ecommerce technology vendor OSF Digital acquired commerce consultant FitForCommerce on Jan. 12. The acquisition positions FitForCommerce as the commerce strategy consulting arm of OSF Digital, helping clients use OSF’s various ecommerce tools. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- Virtual shopping vendor Salesfloor acquired personalization vendor Automat on Jan. 13. Salesfloor, which connects shoppers with in-store employees via text, live video chats and email, will integrate Automat’s artificially intelligent personalization offerings into its platform. Automat’s recommendations, conversational AI and post-purchase personalization will augment the real people using Salesfloor in stores to help retailers scale virtual visits while minimizing strain on their existing in-store employee base. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- Enterprise resource management firm Nextworld acquired inventory management vendor Cloud Inventory on Jan. 13. Nextworld will add Cloud Inventory’s tools to its suite of enterprise applications, natively integrating inventory visibility into other tools for more visibility into spending, revenue estimates and long-term planning. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- Ecommerce fraud protection vendor ClearSale acquired software consultancy Beta Learning for $7 million on Jan. 19. More than 100 employees at Beta Learning will join the ClearSale team, helping the fraud preventer continue to scale its business after its 2021 IPO. ClearSale has been a Beta Learning customer since 2019.