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AUSTRALIA: Last week, our Australia team joined over 1,500 market leading exhibitors and attendees at Retail Global Fest 2022 — Australia’s only festival for omnichannel, ecommerce, and marketplace selling. This year’s Retail Fest was the largest one yet, with the typical 3-day conference being extended to a week-long event and celebration of all things ecommerce.
👇🏼 Check out this short video roundup of our experience at Retail Global Fest 2022 👇🏼
As a Gold Sponsor for Retail Global Fest 2022, Una Brands had the honour of having our own exhibition booth among other market leaders like Klarna, Afterpay, eBay and Airwallex. Two of our team members — Co-Founder and Head of Strategy, Adrian Johnston, as well as Head of Strategic Projects, Kelly Wu, also had the chance to take the stage and share their insights with the ecommerce community.
In this exclusive piece, we bring you some of the insights shared by Adrian during his presentation, Building Your Brand For An Exit, where we discuss the state of the ecommerce acquirer market.
Above: Excerpt from Adrian Johnston’s Presentation at Retail Global Fest 2022
The ecommerce acquisitions market has boomed in recent years — beginning in the early 2020s with veterans like Thrasio and Perch in the US leading the charge, and sustained by the entry of EU, SEA and CN players like Razor, Berlin Brands Group, Una Brands and Nebula. Today, 2 years in, we see 3 factors that have and will continue to drive the increase in ecommerce acquisitions for years to come.
Surge in Ecommerce Revenue due to COVID-19
Ecommerce transactions reached an all-time high in 2020, with the pandemic driving businesses and consumers online, and digital-native brands enjoying an unprecedented spike in profits. However, as the world inches back to pre-pandemic norms, many entrepreneurs who hopped on the bandwagon are now grappling with growth as consumers return to physical stores.
This begs the question, is there a future for ecommerce-based businesses? Based on Morgan Stanley’s forecast of a +10% CAGR through 2026, global ecommerce is likely to continue playing a strong role in brand growth despite some consumers preferring offline retail. That said, there remains a gap for ecommerce acquirers to fill as ecommerce brands compete for consumers’ attention. With multiple brands on the market possessing specific growth needs, ecommerce acquirers play a major role in enabling brands to scale, regardless of the state of the pandemic.
Proven acquirer Roll-Up Model
When Thrasio and Perch pioneered the ecommerce acquirer model in early 2020, there were many doubts about the viability of the model, with acquirers tending to stick to the “safe-and-easy” route of acquiring FBA businesses to minimise operational and logistical complexity. Today, the model has been tried and tested across multiple platforms and geographies, where some acquirers have begun to break the FBA mould and go beyond.
Una Brands is proud to be the first ecommerce acquirer to step out of its comfort zone — unlike other roll-ups, we acquire, operate, and scale both Amazon and non-Amazon brands to supercharge their growth across multiple markets and channels. Our brand owners come from all over APAC, selling on a myriad of platforms ranging from D2C platforms like Shopify and Woocommerce, to third-party marketplaces like Shopee, Lazada, Tokopedia and more.
Huge Amounts of Investment Capital
With ecommerce acquirers raising multimillion dollar Seed and Series A funding rounds, there is a wall of “dry powder” (investment capital) waiting to be deployed into acquisitions. Una Brands has securedUS$55M of funding from our investors and business angels, including but not limited to 500 Startups, Global Founders Capital, Mato Perić, and Maximilian Bittner, but the journey doesn't end here. We are in the process of working on our new fundraising round, and are always on the lookout for great brands that we can help grow into global, well-loved and enduring household names.
Taking these 3 factors into account, one thing remains clear: We are still in a seller’s market, whether it be for FBA businesses or ecommerce brands in general. With vast amounts of capital in the market, increased competition, and a proven model waiting to be deployed, selling your brand to an acquirer like Una Brands might just help you unlock your next stage of growth.