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Shutterfly Acquires Spoonflower for $225M, Doubles Down on Home Décor Growth

The home décor market saw significant growth in 2020 as consumers rushed to outfit their homes for remote working and learning. Although ResearchAndMarkets.com indicates that the global market for this category surpassed $641 billion in 2020, that growth is poised to continue, moderately, over the next five years.

Companies like Shutterfly are capitalizing on this expected growth by honing their acquisition strategies. The company has acquired Spoonflower, a global marketplace of custom fabric, wallpaper and home décor, for $225 million in order to bolster its home décor business while serving an expanded network of creators.

“We have always been in the space of helping our customers personalize and make products that are unique for them, and frankly, for their home,” said Shutterfly President Jim Hilt in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “The Shutterfly home décor business over the last five to six years has been growing at a significantly greater rate than the total business, whether it’s the products that people hang on their wall, the photos that they put on their desktop, or pillows and blankets.

“When we got to know Spoonflower, it became very clear that they were a perfect fit for the future of Shutterfly,” Hilt added. “We share a view that design and photo personalization is really important to customers across the planet. These two brands together can accelerate that growth, but more importantly, make it available to more customers across the U.S.”

Spoonflower has realized record growth over the past year thanks to its focus on connecting consumers with independent creators and artisans. With more than 30,000 new customers per month and a network of 3.3 million unique artists, Spoonflower will be able to capitalize on Shutterfly’s refined supply chain and product development processes, according to Hilt. Shutterfly has a vertically integrated supply chain, manufacturing and technology engine that is designed to power a diverse collection of products. Its production processes, facilities and established network of fulfillment sites provide Shutterfly with the power to personalize and customize a vast range of products at scale, helping creators bring their businesses to new levels of potential growth.

“All of those creators, unique designers and artists who are building these individual products can tap into the Shutterfly manufacturing platform, which will enable them to create high quality products,” Hilt explained. “Creators want to do the things they love, which is design, creating things and expressing who they are. They really don’t want to be sitting there thinking about, Am I building a great product? Am I sourcing it from the right place? Is it going to meet the standards that I have? Being able to connect Spoonflower to the supply manufacturing capability is a real opportunity for us to add quality and value to the artists that sit in this ecosystem.

Shutterfly is also likely to see benefits from the acquisition. In addition to capitalizing on the growth of the home décor market, Shutterfly is reaffirming its mission to connect consumers to creators. Shutterfly’s family of brands, which includes Snapfish, LifeTouch, Tiny Prints and GrooveBook, all are designed to create a space for people to create, whether it is their hobby or their career. The company’s more than 21 million active users also have the power to easily browse and buy from these creators via a seamless global marketplace. Hilt explained that bringing Spoonflower into the fold will raise awareness and generate new business for its community of artists, designers and small businesses, and encourage them to venture into new product categories as well.

“If we think about it strategically, we believe that everyone wants personal and custom design products that express who they are,” Hilt said. “We also believe that almost every product in your life that matters to you can be personal and or customized. The ability to bring together a marketplace of creators and designers, and couple that with a continuously expanding catalogue of products that can be made unique and personal, is a sweet spot of what Shutterfly has been doing for the last 20 years.”

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