1 April 2021 | Press release

Asendia acquires full ownership of eShopWorld

  • Latest step in Asendia's strategy to make cross-border commerce easy and reliable worldwide
  • "Business as usual" for eShopWorld as it continues to increase turnover and grow jobs

1 April 2021 - Today, Asendia, the joint venture between Le Groupe La Poste and Swiss Post, announced the acquisition of eShopWorld (ESW), the cross-border e-commerce enabler. Asendia is the majority shareholder of ESW since 2017.

 

Dublin-based ESW will remain a stand-alone entity, with the current management remaining. This investment will allow the ESW team to continue expanding the business and further build on its capabilities for premium global brands. It will also ensure it can increase turnover and grow jobs, enhancing its services in 200 international markets.

Employing over 500 staff globally, ESW is the cross-border end-to-end e-commerce leader, empowering the world's best-loved brands and retailers to make global shopping better, safer, simpler and faster. ESW's powerful combination of the latest technology and human ingenuity covers the entire shopper journey across 200 markets.

Acquiring full ownership of ESW is the latest step in Asendia's strategy to make cross-border commerce easy and reliable, supporting retailers to grow their e-commerce business internationally.

Marc Pontet, CEO, Asendia, said:

"eShopWorld are experts in making it easy for global brands to have a local presence. Additionally, its focus on making e-commerce frictionless, regardless of location, made it a coherent, strategic choice to make eShopWorld part of the Asendia family. The move dovetails with our overarching aim to make worldwide e-commerce simple and reliable, and is a significant step in making this vision a reality."

Commenting, Tommy Kelly, Founder and CEO of ESW said:

"This is a significant endorsement of eShopWorld’s growth, sustainability and success in embracing the structural shift in favour of online shopping. The recently concluded transaction marks a deepening commitment by Asendia who have been a highly supportive partner and provider of complementary e-commerce services".

"I want to thank and pay tribute to our incredibly talented and loyal staff, who have been a key differentiator in eShopWorld's journey to becoming the world's leading cross border e-commerce enabler inside a decade. Our exceptional workforce, committed shareholder and scalable and well-invested platform means eShopWorld is well poised for continuing growth and innovation, to better serve a growing demand for trusted online shopping".

Asendia was previously a majority shareholder of ESW, now it will be the sole owner.

Progress & Outlook

Structural trends in favour of online shopping have accelerated post COVID 19 and ESW now expects to double its €1billion turnover over the coming years. Last October it announced annualised revenues of approximately €1 billion as it accelerated 160 new hires, taking employment at ESW to over 480 staff by year end 2020, a number that now exceeds 500. This already surpasses previously announced plans to reach 450 staff by year end 2021, and annualised revenues of €1 billion over the coming years.

 

About Asendia

Asendia is one of the world's leaders in international e-commerce and mail, delivering packages, parcels and documents to more than 200 destinations across the globe. Combining the experience and expertise of our founding companies, La Poste and Swiss Post, the Asendia Group brings together a wealth of international and local know-how. Asendia's expertise is broad reaching encompassing different aspects of e-commerce, from webshop software and marketplace management to international logistics. Asendia is committed to sustainability, offsetting all CO2 emissions for transport within Europe and from Europe to other continents, excluding first-mile and last-mile.

In 2020, Asendia generated €1.8 billion in revenues.

About ESW

ESW is the global cross-border e-commerce leader, empowering the world's best-loved brands and retailers to make global shopping better, safer, simpler and faster, end-to-end. From compliance, data security, fraud protection, taxes, and tariffs to checkout, delivery, returns, customer service, and demand generation, our powerful combination of technology and human ingenuity covers the entire shopper journey across 200 markets.

Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, ESW has offices in Ireland, the UK, Paris, Milan, the US, Hong Kong and Singapore and currently employs over 500 staff.