FedEx acquires cross-border e-commerce specialist Bongo International
FedEx has made another acquisition to boost its e-commerce credentials — cross-border solutions firm Bongo International. The acquisition comes just days after the Memphis-based shipping giant announced plans to buy the returns specialist GENCO.
Bongo International is a Florida-based company that provides technology for e-commerce merchants to sell to international consumers.
The company’s end-to-end range of services includes duty and tax calculations, export compliance management, goods classification for customs, currency conversion and payment options, shopping cart management and fraud protection.
FedEx said the acquired firm complements and expands its existing portfolio of services.
According to FedEx, Bongo has a client list stretching to 250,000 firms including 2,000 retailers across Europe, the UK and US, and is delivering cross-border solutions to more than 200 countries across the globe.
As well as supplying cross-border solutions to e-commerce merchants, Bongo markets the opportunity to consumers to shop on foreign websites and have items delivered cross-border via a Bongo address in the original country.
Bongo International has five facilities, on the US East and West Coasts, in the UK, Belgium and in Peru.
“Unmatched flexibility”
Michael Glenn, FedEx Corporation Executive Vice President, Market Development and Corporate Communications, said: “Bongo International’s end-to-end cross border enablement capabilities will greatly enhance the FedEx portfolio of global e-commerce solutions and provide customers with unmatched flexibility to establish and expand their international business and customer base.”
FedEx said that Bongo International will now operate as a subsidiary of FedEx Trade Networks, the global freight forwarding arm of the company.
Craig Turnbull, the co-founder and chief executive officer at St Petersburg-based Bongo, said: “Our knowledge and experience within the evolving cross border enablement environment, as well as our customer-centric culture, is a perfect fit with FedEx.
“Our collective cross border and transportation solutions will catapult our customers’ global e-commerce business capabilities.”
