GSI acquires Zendor.com
US e-commerce provider GSI buys UK fulfilment and e-commerce vendor Zendor.com at knock-down price.
US E-commerce provider GSI Commerce has finalised its acquisition of Manchester-based provider of fulfilment, customer care and e-commerce solutions Zendor.com and now glories in the ridiculously long URL www.zendorgsicommerce.com.
With the acquisition, GSI grows its global e-commerce partner base to approximately 85. GSI will acquire Zendor.com for approximately USD 7.9 million in cash, about GBP 4 million in real money and a bargain considering the size of Zendor and the nature of its clients and it’s 2007 turnover of GBP 3.8 million.
Zendor.com was formed in 1999 as a subsidiary of parent company N Brown Group, a business with over 140 years experience in catalogue and shopping. Zendor’s client list before the sale included Woolworths, River Island and Early Learning Centre and the just announced deal with Peacocks.
Zendor operates two fulfilment centres with approximately 245,000 square feet of space and a brand new 50-seat customer care centre that opened in September of 2007 and it claimed at launch time that there was “capacity to reach 150-seats for Christmas peak trading should client growth and new business development meet company expectations.” In addition the company employs approximately 100 employees.
US e-commerce provider GSI buys UK fulfilment and e-commerce vendor Zendor.com at knock-down price.
US E-commerce provider GSI Commerce has finalised its acquisition of Manchester-based provider of fulfilment, customer care and e-commerce solutions Zendor.com and now glories in the ridiculously long URL www.zendorgsicommerce.com.
With the acquisition, GSI grows its global e-commerce partner base to approximately 85. GSI will acquire Zendor.com for approximately USD 7.9 million in cash, about GBP 4 million in real money and a bargain considering the size of Zendor and the nature of its clients and it’s 2007 turnover of GBP 3.8 million.
Zendor.com was formed in 1999 as a subsidiary of parent company N Brown Group, a business with over 140 years experience in catalogue and shopping. Zendor’s client list before the sale included Woolworths, River Island and Early Learning Centre and the just announced deal with Peacocks.
Zendor operates two fulfilment centres with approximately 245,000 square feet of space and a brand new 50-seat customer care centre that opened in September of 2007 and it claimed at launch time that there was “capacity to reach 150-seats for Christmas peak trading should client growth and new business development meet company expectations.” In addition the company employs approximately 100 employees.
In IR’s view the sale seems to be very sudden, back in late September Nick Allen, Chief Executive of Zendor, said
“This is an exciting development for Zendor; we are delighted to announce the opening of the customer service facility in our Chadderton warehouse as it means we are extremely well-positioned to provide exceptional customer relationship management in-house as well as establishing ourselves solidly for future market growth.”
Which is not the sort of statement you would expect from a man who was about to enter into negotiations for a sale less than two months later.
Selling Zendor also seems to be a strange move for parent company N Brown Group especially as in their recent interim results of September 2007 they state “E-commerce is at the heart of our business strategy.” And while Zendor’s profits were low, they were none the less a profit. In 2007 Zendor was quoting GBP 200k on GBP 3.8 million compared to a GBP 100k loss on the 2006 revenue of GBP 4.6m, and as the interim results state better prospects were due for 2007-8;
“as new contracts which have started recently for Woolworths, Peacocks and Reiss, together with a strong prospect pipeline, should improve the situation going forward.”
“There’s nowt as queer as folk,” as my dad used to say.
