AP Moller-Maersk is moving into the business-to-consumer sector with the acquisition of e-commerce logistics providers in the US and Europe.
The Danish shipping company is acquiring Visible Supply Chain Management (Visible SCM) in a deal worth $838m, and is also intending buy B2C Europe Holding in a $86m transaction.
The deals see Maersk moving into the business-to-consumer (B2c) e-commerce sector which is transforming traditional shipper behaviour where it the Danish company is normally focused the on the business-to-business sector.
Salt Lake City-headquartered Visible SCM is focused on B2C parcel delivery and B2C fulfillment services handles 200,000 orders a day and enables 200m parcels a year through its systems.
Visible SCM’s CEO, Jared Starling, said, “Together we can be a trusted partner across all customers’ supply chains and bring our B2C expertise to Maersk customers with online sales fulfillment, parcel delivery and supply chain visibility in an end-to-end offering.”
B2C Europe’s business is in parcel delivery services within Europe for both retailers and brands.
B2C Europe’s CEO, José Vega Vazquez, commented, “Bringing our expertise and competences together will offer customers a unique opportunity to take control and drive flexibility into their B2C supply chains. We look very much forward to the journey ahead and getting to leverage the strengths of our B2C delivery business with Maersk customers.”
On why Maersk is making the two moves worth a combined $924m into the B2C space it noted that many of its customers were seeing strong e-commerce growth.
“The acquisitions will provide Maersk with a strong growth platform in the rapidly evolving field of E-commerce, where our investments in digitalization and integration will create significant synergies and make a big difference for customers’ ability to sell across multiple channels effectively. Furthermore, they will allow us to have a more comprehensive offering towards small and medium sized customers,” said Maersk Ocean & Logistics CEO Vincent Clerc.
Source: Seatrade Maritime
