News has broken today that ChannelAdvisor, founded in 2001 by Scot Wingo and Aris Buinevicius, has been acquired by CommerceHub, a provider of cloud-based ecommerce solutions.
Definitely file this one as a ‘Didn’t see it coming’, but it could be good news for ChannelAdvisor customers – potentially on of the biggest benefits for ChannelAdvisor will be the flexibility that comes from being a private company without shareholders to answer to. This could likely mean less focus on immediate profitability and time to grow solutions and services for the long term benefit of both clients and the company.
CommerceHub will acquire the outstanding shares of ChannelAdvisor with ChannelAdvisor stockholders will receive $23.10 per share in cash – a premium of approximately 57%.
They say that the complementary combination of CommerceHub and ChannelAdvisor will expand the capabilities on offer for brands and retailers:
- Brands will be able to manage their public and private marketplaces alongside their retailer connections with a single vendor, improving efficiency by unifying first-party, dropship, and third-party integrations.
- Retailers will be able to access an even larger pool of brands, with over 18,000 customers transacting more than $50 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) and more than $500M in digital marketing and retail media ad spend annually across the combined network.
- Companies across the network will be able to save on delivery costs and improve delivery experiences with Delivery Suite, and improve their consumer experience with Shoppable Media and Brand Analytics.
CommerceHub and ChannelAdvisor have both established themselves as leading solutions for different segments of online retailers and brands. By coming together, we can provide an even broader network, enabling our combined customers to grow their businesses by discovering new products, new brands, and new channels.
– Bryan Dove, CEO, CommerceHub
This is a tremendous opportunity for our customers, for our team members and our shareholders. This transaction positions the combined company to accelerate innovation and help shape the future of commerce.
– David Spitz, CEO, ChannelAdvisor
It’s expected that the transaction will close by the end of the year.