UPS is expanding its B2C parcels business in Europe with the takeover of Belgian-basede-commerce delivery specialist Kiala.
The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, gives UPS a strong B2C position in several Europeanmarkets and a platform to expand consumer delivery activities in other countries.
Announcing the deal, UPS said that Kiala “has developed a platform that enables e-commerceretailers to offer their shoppers the option of having goods delivered to a convenient retaillocation. The acquisition will broaden UPS’s service portfolio for business-to-consumerdeliveries.”
UPS was not immediately available to comment further on the acquisition, including on itsintegration plans and how the Kiala takeover would impact on its broader strategy of cooperatingmore closely with postal operators for last-mile delivery of B2C shipments.
Kiala was launched in 2001 in Belgium with the ambition of establishing itself as a Europe-widespecialist for consumer deliveries via a network of delivery and collection points within retaillocations in competition to the traditional postal networks. It currently operates in fivecountries: Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain. However, it failed to gain afoothold in several other markets such as the UK, Germany and Austria.
The company, whose investors included diverse French, British and US private equity companies,organises parcel delivery to a network of 7,000 Kiala Points, where recipients can pick up theirparcels or hand in return shipments. The bulk of these – 5,000 – are in France.
Kiala has increased revenues significantly in the last few years, generating turnover of €47.2million in 2010 (+40%), and was aiming for €54 million (+26%) in 2011, according to information onits website. It has a customer base of some 300 companies, including well-known brands suchas Esprit, H&M, Neckermann, Pixmania and Yver Rocher, and handles up to 145,000 parcelsdaily.
In France, Kiala announced a partnership last July with Geodis. Through their cooperation,Geodis aimed to offer B2C deliveries to Kiala Points as an alternative to home deliveries throughits France Express network, and took over the physical transportation of Kiala parcels in France.The impact of the UPS takeover on this agreement was not immediately clear.
