Delivery firm Whistl has announced the acquisition of the privately held fulfilment and contact centre company, the Spark Ecommerce Group which is based in Gateshead. The 20-year-old company has 200 employees and is recognised for its award winning inbound and outbound customer services, alongside its comprehensive order fulfilment operation. In the past year the company had a £15m turnover.
The acquisition of Spark Ecommerce Group is the second acquisition Whistl has made in the fulfilment arena and Spark Ecommerce Group in the future will be rebranded Whistl Fulfilment.
The company consists of: Spark Response, providers of contact centre and fulfilment services to some of the UK’s most recognisable brands; Spark Etail which acts as an online retailer for Ethical products via its Ethicalsuperstore.com, Natural Collection, Frank & Faith and Spirit of Nature websites. The group is made up of a consortium of investors led by London based chairman Barry Stiefel and includes Spark directors Peter Slee and Noel Lambert.
The company will continue to operate from the North East and the existing operations and leadership team will remain in place with Peter Slee, as Managing Director, together with his Co-Director Noel Lambert. No details of the purchase price have been revealed.
We are looking forward to integrating the Spark Ecommerce Group into the Whistl family as part of our strategy to grow our business in the parcel, fulfilment and international arenas. Spark brings to Whistl great people, great brands and a shared philosophy of providing outstanding customer services to our clients. This is a great time to become part of the Whistl family.
– Nick Wells, CEO, Whistl
The MD at Spark has said of the deal:
We have a great team here at Spark and we have been looking for a partner who can take us to the next level, yet retain our entrepreneurial, customer focussed approach to doing business. I look forward to working with Nick and his team to integrate our company into Whistl Fulfilment.
– Peter Slee, Managing Director, Spark Ecommerce Group
