MySale acquires Identity Direct

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 6, 2017

MySale Group on Thursday announced the acquisition for A$2.69 million, of “certain trade and assets” of Identity Direct, a major international retailer of personalised products that was in administration.

It said the acquisition includes a small, skilled workforce, stock and customer lists, as well as a leasehold production centre in Auckland, New Zealand where products are personalised to the customer's requirements and shipped globally.

The 25-year-old company sells clothing, sports goods, labels and books and has partnered with a number of major brands including Disney, Marvel, Nickelodeon and Mattel.

In its last financial year, to June 2016, it had revenue of around A$10 million and MySale said the acquisition includes inventory with a value of around A$1.5 million and “a valuable database” of 66,000 active customers. The group estimates such an active database would represent around A$2 million of value when compared to the group's average acquisition cost per active customer.

So why else has MySale bought the firm? It said the acquisition brings a number of strategic benefits as it is expected to “establish [it] in a growing segment with barriers to entry and unique product, provide a strong fit with the existing customer base and… improve customer data collection.”

 It will also be able to deliver synergies such as reduced operating costs by combining shared services, improving shipping rates and reducing payment processing costs.

And it sees “substantial opportunities to drive revenue by” cross-marketing to the ANZ active customer base and targeting MySale’s existing Southeast Asian markets of Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and The Philippines.
It will also seek to reactivate customers in its existing database who respond well to the Identity Direct range of products, increase the range of products on which Identity Direct is able to offer personalisation and develop new licences with existing and new brand partners.

MySale CEO Carl Jackson said the additional revenue stream will be “very complementary to our existing core activities” and that the whole deal will “unlock significant opportunities and efficiencies hitherto unavailable to [the Identity Direct] business.”