Shopify will acquire fulfillment solution provider Deliverr for $2.1 billion, the largest acquisition in Shopify’s history, as the retail industry continues to struggle with supply chain and last mile challenges. With the Deliverr acquisition and integration of its 6 River Systems’ warehouse automation technology, the ecommerce platform plans to fortify its Shopify Fulfillment Network (SFN).
The goal is to provide a turnkey end-to-end solution for independent brands through localized fulfillment and enhanced last-mile options, regardless of whether or not they use the Shopify platform. The combination of Shopify and Deliverr services will benefit ecommerce businesses through:
- Simplified multichannel inventory management that creates a single resource among ecommerce, brick-and-mortar, wholesale, marketplaces and platforms including Google, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok;
- Predictive inventory placement that anticipates the origin of customer orders and places inventory near the demand;
- Flexible logistics resources that a merchant can adjust according to growth and business needs by adding services for storage, freight, inventory preparation and returns;
- Next-day and two-day delivery across the U.S. through an expanded network of warehouses, carriers and last-mile partners; and
- A future tool named Shop Promise that displays next-day and two-day delivery promises on merchants’ channels, allowing them to extend shipping guarantees across platforms like Google, Facebook Instagram and the Shop app while retaining control of their branding, product, business and customer data.
“Our goal is to not only level the playing field for independent businesses but tilt it in their favor — turning their size and agility into their superpower,” said Tobi Lütke, Founder and CEO of Shopify in a statement. “Together with Deliverr, Shopify Fulfillment Network will give millions of growing businesses access to a simple, powerful logistics platform that will allow them to make their customers happy over and over again.”
Amid supply chain challenges that have plagued retail, a number of major players have recently invested in technology to improve fulfillment options. In February, Walmart launched a partnership with last mile solution provider Cognetry Labs to provide its Walmart GoLocal last mile services to Cognetry clients. In April, Amazon began to offer Prime delivery benefits to non-Amazon ecommerce businesses through Buy with Prime, and also launched a $1 billion venture investment program to bolster fulfillment, logistics and supply chain innovation.
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