Amazon is poised to take full control of French B2C home delivery firm Colis Privé, with the closing of the transaction scheduled for the end of next month, industry sources have told CEP-Research.
Colis Privé has declined to comment while no one was immediately available at Amazon France. The US online retailer took a 25% stake in the French firm in April 2014.
Last weekend, a report in The Seattle Times claimed that the full acquisition of Colis Privé was "expected soon" and that "within a few weeks, Amazon.com will begin competing directly with long-time partners United Parcel Service, FedEx and DHL."
The report added: "Sometime in the first quarter (of 2016), Amazon is expected to acquire the 75% of the French package-delivery company Colis Privé that it doesn’t already own. Though the French company is small relative to the multinational giants that move Amazon parcels around the globe, the acquisition will be the biggest step yet that the online retail giant has taken to move into the business of delivering packages for others, as well as itself."
Last October reports in the French media claimed that Amazon had signed a deal with Colis Privé's management to take full ownership of the company. One of the reports quoted an Amazon France spokesperson as saying: “This acquisition will not put our cooperation with other transport firms into question.”
Moreover, Colis Privé would remain an independent delivery company. “It’s not a question of Colis Privé delivering nothing other than Amazon. The company will continue to develop its commercial portfolio.”
It is unclear whether the takeover will require approval from the French Competition Authority (FCA). Its rules state that approval is only required if the company which is the target of the takeover has a turnover which exceeds €50 million in France.
Colis Privé, which expected to deliver some 35 million parcels in 2015, has not disclosed details of its annual turnover. In one media report, Colis Privé's 2012 turnover is estimated at €50 million with losses of €17.7 million that year.
Effectively, the takeover of Colis Privé would give Amazon a platform to switch more volumes away from La Poste, reducing its dependence on the French state postal operator, and enable it to build up a competitive rival and to gain more influence and control over final-mile deliveries in France.
It could also enable the ecommerce firm to secure lower prices from La Poste. Amazon, the recognised ecommerce market leader in France, has an estimated 50 million parcels a year in the country.
According to CEP-Research information, Amazon uses various companies to deliver orders in France, including La Poste’s Chronopost and Coliposte Colissimo, Colis Privé, FedEx, DHL, TNT Express and UPS, as well as the Relais Colis parcel point network.
Colis Privé had forecast to deliver some 35 million parcels this year for diverse retailers, including Amazon. It employs 400 staff at two hubs (Paris and Lyon) and 19 regional depots and delivers through 1,700 subcontracted workers and some 9,000 ‘parcel shop’ partners.
The French company describes itself as the main home delivery competitor to La Poste. In contrast to the UK and Germany, where there is intensive competition between various parcel carriers, La Poste dominates the French market through its Coliposte, Chronopost and DPD France businesses.
Colis Privé was originally founded by the Yves Rocher cosmetics group in 1993 under the name Distrihome to deliver the group’s products in response to extended strikes at La Poste, and was sold to Adrexo, an unaddressed mail delivery firm in 2006. In 2012, it was taken over by the company management and rebranded as Colis Privé.
The French B2C parcel delivery market has been in the news already this week with Deutsche Post DHL taking a 27.5% stake in final-mile delivery specialist Relais Colis to enable cross-border e-commerce deliveries to French consumers.
In another development, French e-commerce retailer, the 3SI Group, announced investment of more than €15 million in delivery subsidiary Mondial Relay which targets the mechanisation of its 24 distribution centres across France by 2017.
