In a gold rush, investors are pumping billions into marketplace sellers – often operating out of their garages, and transforming them into global brands – known as ‘rolling up’ – to scale, boost sales and profit
FinTech unicorn ($1.5bn) PingPong, specialists in seamless cross-border payments, has partnered with Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) third party seller aggregator Perch, to help build up the next generation of e-commerce businesses and bolster the evolving roll-up ecosystem. Perch has raised hundreds of millions in capital to fund acquisitions, having bought 30 e-commerce brands since inception – 50 percent of which are sellers and entrepreneurs outside of the US. Once under its ownership, the vast majority of Perch’s brands are experiencing high double-digit up to triple digit growth
COVID-19-related boosts contributed a staggering additional $174.87 billion in e-commerce revenue in 2020, amounting to a 44 percent year-on-year increase, with Amazon still dominating 40 percent of all online spending in the US. The spiralling demand for Amazon ‘mom-and-pop businesses’ is revealing the maturation of the e-commerce giant’s third-party marketplace, which accounts for more than half of all products sold on the site. These fast growth ‘roll up’ businesses are part of the FBA program which houses stock in Amazon warehouses and sells through its website. Stock is then delivered by Amazon rather than by the marketplace sellers themselves.
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Ning Wang, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at PingPong comments: “Companies like Perch are thriving thanks to the benefits of roll-up business operations. Consolidated purchasing power means lower costs paid to suppliers, factories, manufacturers and shipping companies. Sellers also benefit from expertise in back-end global logistics, Amazon advertising, marketing efforts, and search engine optimization.
In a fast-moving e-commerce world, with new business models emerging daily, PingPong is constantly innovating to fuel the expansion of these fast-growth marketplace sellers with seamless cross-border payment services that allow e-commerce businesses to instantly collect, convert and transfer money from all corners of the world. With everything from role-based account permissions for enhancing security to simple supplier and overseas salary payments in local currencies, PingPong’s solutions create additional savings and bargaining power for sellers, while streamlining financial operations. By working in synergy with innovative aggregators like Perch, we’re unlocking the full potential of this nascent space and forming the newest retail conglomerate.”
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Nate Jackson, Vice President of Acquisitions at Perch, comments: “E-commerce is fast moving, complex and competitive. The three factors to our success include access to capital, access to businesses who want to sell, and by far the most challenging – managing operational complexities and cash flow. Crucially, partnering with PingPong allows us to streamline our global e-commerce model with visibility of multiple accounts all in one place. PingPong also truly understands our need for flexibility and customizability, and its low exchange rates save us a lot of money – setting it apart from competitors. PingPong has been instrumental in our mission to make great brands even greater. Plus, with Amazon’s almost unlimited number of niche categories and accompanying communities of loyal consumers to capitalize on, we see infinite opportunities for future growth together.”
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