1. ebuyer
Acquirer: Rich Marsden and Mark Reed
When: April
Deal size: Undisclosed, but ebuyer turned over £174m in 2022.
How it started:
Industry big hitters Mark Reed and Rich Marsden snapped up this Howden-based etailer from West Retail Group in April.
West was eager to concentrate on its main business of kitchens and bedrooms, handing Marsden and Reed an opportunity to grab ebuyer at the second time of asking (previous negotiations between the two parties pre-Covid came to nothing).
“I’d spent nearly 25 years in distribution, and wanted to get closer to the customers, and be in a business that can really provide vendor partners with access to every market – which is pretty much what ebuyer’s got,” Marsden said.
What happened next:
Talking to IT Chanel Oxygen in August, Marsden characterised ebuyer as a “solid platform” in need of “new leadership and a fresh view” as he reflected on his first 120 days in charge.
Having peaked above £240m during the lockdown boom, ebuyer’s 2022 revenues came in at £170m.
“I would say we under-index in each of our four verticals – B2B, B2C, system integration and marketplace,” Marsden said.
“As is typical in an acquired business, there was a bit of waste and excess that we’ve removed, in terms of contracts that were probably no longer required,” he added.
“But the main thing we’ve tried to do in the first four months is just onboard our people. We will be a real people-led business and have already started to see some success, particularly in our commercial space where we’ve introduced incentive packages and provided some training. We’re just letting people grow into their roles, and that’s probably the biggest change.”
