October 28th 2009

 

On 6 August 2009, Smart&co acquired 100% of Buyagift plc, the UK leader in the gift box industry with £15 million of sales and 200 000 clients in 2008.

Smart&Co’s objective is to consolidate its leadership in the different segments of the leisure intermediation market. The acquisition of Buyagift plc is in line with this strategy as it will allow the creation of a worldwide leader for online distribution of experience gifts.

This acquisition consolidates Smart&Co’s presence in ecommerce as well as its position in the UK which becomes the group’s third biggest market behind France and Belgium. Following on from the acquisition of Lafourchette.com and Gault Millau in January 2009, this operation continues to prove Smart&co’s ambition to develop itself through external growth.

The entire share capital – which was mainly held by the founders of the business - was purchased by Smart&co. This operation was financed with the group’s own cash and debt structured with the help of a subsidiary of Banques Populaires, France second biggest retail bank.

The development of Buyagift will be independent from the rest of the Smart&Co group companies. Dan Mountain, the founder of the business, will remain as CEO. The company’s new strategy will follow two axes : on one hand, increase the company’s offer – mainly on the accommodation and restaurant segments – and on the other, accelerate the speed of the international development with the help of Smart&co. Indeed, the French-based industry leader is already has a presence in 18 countries.

Buyagift’s management will also keep its current focus on developing new projects which aim at keeping customer satisfaction as high as possible. This is seen as a key differentiating point as Buyagift is considered as best-practice by its ultra-available customer service and the rigorous quality screening of its 400 partners.

« Buyagift’s management and myself are very keen for this operation which will give us the financial and human resources to speed up our international development. Indeed, we have already experienced our first success in this area with our recent launch of our French activities. Also, we adhere totally with Smart&co’s philosophy which is very demanding in terms of results but leaves us plenty of autonomy to achieve them.» says Dan Mountain, CEO of Buyagift plc.

« With the acquisition of Buyagift plc, we purchase a top of the league on-line expertise as well as a capable technological platform which is ready to be deployed in our 10 to 15 main geographical targets. In addition, we noticed immediately in our discussions with management their concern for client satisfaction and it is for us a key differentiating element.” Says Antoine Freysz, Strategy and Development director of Smart&co.

About Buyagift

 

Buyagift was created in 1999 and has quickly become the first ecommerce website in the UK for experience gifts. In 2008, Buyagift sold over 200 000 activities: from track driving days to cooking lessons, theme park tickets and week-end getaways.

Buyagift achieved over £15m of sales in 2008 with circa 70 employees mainly located in North London.

Capitalising on its success in the UK, Buyagift expanded internationally in 2008 with the launch of a first subsidiary in France : www.coolcadeau.fr. This new company started trading in October 2008 and has experienced a strong growth since then.

Buyagift has also experienced strong growth in the B2B market with a complete offering ranging from incentives to seminars and corporate gifts.

Buyagift has received several awards for its dynamic growth and the quality of its products. In 2006, the company entered the top 100 “Fast Track Sunday Times” indicator and has been in the “Best Companies to Work for” listing for 2009.

About Smart&co

 

Smart&co is a French group which was created in 2003 and focuses on the leisure intermediary market. With 600 employees, Smart&co has a presence in 18 countries, which includes Europe, but also Canada, the US, Japan and Brazil.

There are a dozen companies in the Smart&Co group, which are all managed independently. Smartbox® is the biggest of those companies and the world-wide leader in gift boxes, with Weekendesk another big group company specialized in online hotel booking.

In December 2008, Smart&Co has increased its external growth rate with the acquisition of the start-up Lafourchette.com and the purchase in 2009 of the restaurant guide editor Gault Millau.

• Contact us
• Site map