Global Blue Announces the Acquisition of a Majority Stake in Shipup, a Leading Post-purchase Experience Solution

Rhea-AI Summary

Global Blue (NYSE:GB) has acquired a majority stake in Shipup, a leader in post-purchase technology for e-commerce, set to close by the end of October 2022. This strategic move enhances Global Blue's ecosystem, enabling retailers to improve customer satisfaction and reduce service complaints, with Shipup's solutions reportedly increasing customer satisfaction by up to 140% and repeat purchases by about 19%. Shipup serves over 370 brands globally, marking a significant expansion in Global Blue's RetailTech offerings.

Positive

• Acquisition of Shipup strengthens Global Blue's post-purchase technology solutions.
• Shipup's technology reportedly increases customer satisfaction by up to 140%.
• Potential to improve retailer brand reputation and reduce delivery-related customer service complaints.

Negative

• None.

• Global Blue announces the acquisition of a majority stake in Shipup, a leader in post-purchase technology for e-commerce.
• Shipup is a SaaS provider that enables brands to deliver seamless, proactive, and branded post-purchase communication, which turns the shipping experience into a new growth lever.
• Shipup is a fast-growing business serving over 370 worldwide brands like NA-KD, Carrefour, Purple Carrot and operating across Western Europe and North America.
• Global Blue’s investment in Shipup accelerates its ambition to provide retailers with a leading ecosystem of post-purchase technologies.

SIGNY, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Global Blue (NYSE:GB) announces the acquisition of a majority stake in Shipup, an innovative player in the RetailTech post-purchase market. The transaction is expected to close by the end of October 2022.

The post-purchase experience, one of the most promising growth lever for e-commerce

Customer frustration due to delivery incidents is a major challenge for retailers, negatively impacting clients' satisfaction and online reputation while inflating the volume of customer service complaints in an era where standing out from the competition is crucial.

With Shipup, merchants drive a simple, fully-controlled, and polished experience from purchase to delivery, protecting their brand and reputation while increasing their repeat purchases. It provides a uniquely crafted & reassuring customer experience and drives growth.

Shipup's solution empowers retailers to gain complete control of post-purchase communications, allowing them to create branded, personalized, and proactive, automated messages to their consumers across multiple events, channels, and languages. On the customers' side, they receive live delivery notifications, AI-powered delivery estimates, and access to tracking via the retailer's website. A satisfaction survey is even sent immediately to the customer on delivery of the goods, generating a high response rate and better insight into the customer experience.

Retailers get real-time alerts for incident delivery, tracking package data on the customer support interface, and a granular dashboard to monitor their carrier performances.

Brands can reduce delivery requests by up to 80% and save up to 50% on refunds. They also increase satisfaction by up to +140% and +19% repeat purchase on average.

Shipup is a fast-growing company at the forefront of the RetailTech market.

Shipup’s scalable, plug and play solution gives it the unique ability to address the needs of both mid-market brands and larger international clients. Since being founded in 2016, Shipup has gained over 370 clients ranging from large international retailers including NA-KD, FNAC Spain and Carrefour to specialist brands such as Purple Carrot, Hofmann and L’Occitane.

Shipup enriches Global Blue’s post-purchase offering, helping retailers extend their customer journey.

Global Blue’s acquisition of Shipup is another key development in its mission to build an end-to-end ecosystem of post-purchase solutions for retail clients. This includes leading e-commerce returns provider ZigZag Global, which strongly complements Shipup’s solutions, Yocuda's market-leading digital receipt technology, and specialized players in the luxury delivery and recommerce space.

Global Blue Ventures - the entity created by Global Blue to focus on investing in and partnering with innovative companies that offer best-in-class RetailTech - advised on the deal.

Tomas Mostany, SVP Strategy & Chief Product Officer, Global Blue, commented:

“With more than half (56%) of shoppers currently disappointed by the e-commerce post-purchase experience, Shipup’s technology represents a powerful solution to a major challenge for our retail partners. We are pleased to welcome Shipup into the Global Blue network and to offer our clients even more solutions that enable them to capture the growth of the thriving e-commerce market.”

Romain Ogiela, CEO, Shipup, commented:

“Global Blue is one of the world’s leading retail service providers, and through our partnership, we will be able to scale our technology services to many more world's leading brands quickly. We also look forward to joining Global Blue’s RetailTech network, which puts us in a unique position to collaborate with some of the best innovators in the industry.”

ABOUT GLOBAL BLUE

Global Blue pioneered the concept of Tax Free Shopping 40 years ago. Through continuous innovation, we have become the leading strategic technology and payments partner, empowering retailers to improve their performance and shoppers to enhance their experience.

Global Blue offers innovative solutions in three different fields:

• Tax Free Shopping: Helping retailers at over 300,000 points of sale to efficiently manage 35 million Tax Free Shopping transactions a year, thanks to its fully integrated in-house technology platform. Meanwhile, its industry-leading digital Tax Free shopper solutions create a better, more seamless customer experience
• Payments services: Providing a full suite of foreign exchange and Payments technology solutions that allow acquirers, hotels and retailers to offer value-added services and improve the customer experience during 31 million payment transactions a year at 130,000 points of interaction
• Complementary RetailTech: Offering new technology solutions to retailers, including digital receipts and eCommerce returns, that can be easily integrated with their core systems and allow them to optimise and digitalise their processes throughout the omni-channel customer journey, both in-store and online

In addition, our data and advisory services offer a strategic advisory to help retailers identify growth opportunities, while our shopper experience and engagement solutions provide data-driven solutions to increase footfall, convert footfall to revenue and enhance performance.

For more information, visit http://www.globalblue.com/corporate/

Pre-pandemic figures FY 2019-20

ABOUT SHIPUP

Shipup is a solution that empowers online retailers to provide a uniquely crafted & reassuring post-purchase experience. The experience is fully customizable to enable powerful branded communication. Additionally, Shipup gathers and provides data on carrier performances and customer feedback to understand the impact delivery has on the customer and brand's relationship.

Shipup has been launched in 2016 in Paris, France by three ex-students of HEC entrepreneurs and Centrale Paris. It has previously raised €6m in Series A with Elaia Partners, Bpifrance and many business angels in June 2020, they have expanded to an office in New York City. They empower 370 international brands like Carrefour, Leclerc, NA-KD, or Volcom in reclaiming the post-purchase conversation and are integrated with more than 120 carriers worldwide. Shipup is natively integrated into the most successful eCommerce platforms, marketing, and customer service software like Shopify, Zendesk, Klaviyo, Salesforce, etc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221004005613/en/

MEDIA CONTACTS

Virginie Alem – SVP Marketing & Communications

Mail: valem@globalblue.com

INVESTOR RELATIONS CONTACTS

Frances Gibbons – Head of Investor Relations

Mob: +44 (0)7815 034 212 – Mail: fgibbons@globalblue.com

Source: Global Blue

FAQ

What is the significance of Global Blue's acquisition of Shipup?

The acquisition enhances Global Blue's offerings in post-purchase technology, aimed at improving customer experience for retailers.

When is the acquisition of Shipup expected to close?

The transaction is expected to close by the end of October 2022.

How many brands does Shipup serve?

Shipup serves over 370 brands worldwide, including well-known companies like Carrefour and NA-KD.

What impact will Shipup's technology have on retailers?

Shipup's technology aims to enhance customer satisfaction and increase repeat purchases, thus driving growth for retailers.

What are the expected benefits of integrating Shipup into Global Blue's services?

Integration is expected to provide a seamless post-purchase experience, improve customer loyalty, and reduce service complaints.