GSI Commerce Acquires FetchBack; Announces Reorganization of Global Marketing Services Division
Acquisition Expands GSI’s Marketing Services Capabilities with Retargeting Technology that Recaptures Customers and Improves Online Conversion
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., June 1, 2010 – GSI Commerce Inc. (Nasdaq: GSIC), a leading provider of e-commerce and interactive marketing solutions, today announced its Marketing Services division has acquired FetchBack Inc., a Tempe, Arizona-based provider of comprehensive retargeting solutions for more than 500 advertisers. FetchBack’s scalable technology delivers targeted messages to online visitors after they have left a Web site, enabling clients of all sizes to recapture lost prospects, and offers an industry-leading analytics platform that provides clients with unparalleled insight into their online campaigns. This acquisition expands the breadth of GSI’s marketing services capabilities with an advanced solution that complements its existing offerings, and expands its reach into new vertical markets.
FetchBack has one of the largest client bases in the industry thanks to its 95 percent monthly retention rate. Clients include True Religion, Pingg, Abacus 24-7, Grand Canyon University, and Aqua Superstore. Key components of FetchBack’s retargeting technology include:
• Multi-Network, DSP, Exchange Reach: With FetchBack’s distribution channel, clients can reach the majority of prior site visitors, far exceeding the traditional reach of single-network solutions. Visitors are retargeted using online activity data collected during prior visits to an advertiser’s site, such as categories and products viewed, abandoned shopping cart items, and keywords and product selection.
• FIDO™: FetchBack’s proprietary retargeting platform selects attributes (from collected visitor data) that will have the most appeal to the highest value potential customers and then generates appropriate advertisements on multiple ad networks.
• Advanced Retargeting Analytics: FetchBack’s advanced analytics system dynamically collects customer data and tracks 87 metrics, enabling granular visibility and deep campaign analysis and optimization. Current metrics include audience, response, conversion and ROI.
• Dynamic Ads Backed by Recommendation Engine Technology: FetchBack’s recommendation engine drives dynamic and instantaneous generation of ads that are highly relevant to site visitors, increasing the likelihood they will return to the client’s site and convert.
“Retargeting is far more effective than traditional display advertising, and FetchBack’s retargeting technology outpaces others in the market,” said Chris Saridakis, chief executive officer of GSI’s Marketing Services division. “We believe FetchBack can deliver dramatic, measurable results for our clients looking to reconnect with customers through targeted and relevant messages that drive conversions effortlessly. Their technology is well aligned with our strategy to expand GSI’s marketing services capabilities. We look forward to making retargeting an integral, highly effective component of our clients’ marketing programs.”
“We’ve expanded our client base and market reach tremendously in a few short years and we’ve reached a point where this acquisition makes perfect sense,” said Chad Little, founder and CEO of FetchBack. “It positions us for continued growth while enabling us to focus on further enhancements to our technology. Our clients will benefit from access to GSI’s expertise across a broad set of marketing services, and GSI clients will be able to incorporate our solutions to improve the ROI of their online campaigns.”
FetchBack will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of GSI’s Global Marketing Services division, which also includes sister companies TrueAction, Silverlign, GSI Media and e-Dialog. All of the business units within the reorganized division now report directly to Saridakis. Little will continue to lead FetchBack’s operations and will be a key contributor to developing innovative targeting products for GSI’s Marketing Services division.
“This move unites all of the business units operating under GSI’s Global Marketing Services division with a common and focused goal of providing unparalleled customer service as well as the most comprehensive, industry-leading solutions available to solve today’s—and tomorrow’s—online marketing challenges,” explained Saridakis.
Nick Pahade, president of TrueAction, has resigned and will be leaving the company to pursue other interests.
Gridley & Company, a New York City-based boutique investment bank, provided GSI with advisory services on the deal. Petsky Prunier provided FetchBack with advisory services on the deal. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
About FetchBack Inc.
FetchBack is a leading retargeting company. On average, the majority of a Web site’s visitors leave without converting. FetchBack ‘fetches’ them back to that site using the industry’s most advanced retargeting platform. The company’s FIDO™ technology provides detailed retargeting analytics, enabling advertisers to see deeper into their campaigns than ever before. FetchBack’s 95 percent monthly retention rate is possible because of their team of experts that leverage the industry’s most detailed retargeting specific analytics to manage each client’s account and exceed ROI goals. To learn how FetchBack advertisers are turning lost prospects into loyal customers, please visit http://www.FetchBack.com.
About GSI Commerce
GSI Commerce® is a leading provider of services that enable e-commerce, multichannel retailing and interactive marketing for large, business-to-consumer (b2c) enterprises in the U.S. and internationally. We deliver customized solutions through an e-commerce platform, which is comprised of technology, fulfillment and customer care and is available on a modular basis or as part of an integrated, end-to-end solution. We offer a full suite of interactive marketing services through two divisions, TrueActionTM and e-Dialog. Additionally, we provide brands and retailers a platform for online private sales through RueLaLa.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements made in this release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “guidance,” “potential,” “opportunity,” “continue,” “project,” “forecast,” “confident,” “prospects,” “schedule” and similar expressions typically are used to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the then-current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about the business of GSI Commerce. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Factors which may affect GSI Commerce’s business, financial condition and operating results include the effects of changes in the economy, consumer spending, the financial markets and the industries in which GSI Commerce and its clients operate, changes affecting the Internet and e-commerce, the ability of GSI Commerce to develop and maintain relationships with strategic partners and suppliers and the timing of its establishment, extension or termination of its relationships with clients, the ability of GSI Commerce to timely and successfully develop, maintain and protect its technology, confidential and proprietary information, and product and service offerings and execute operationally, the ability of GSI Commerce to attract and retain qualified personnel, and the ability of GSI Commerce to successfully integrate its acquisitions of other businesses and the performance of acquired businesses. More information about potential factors that could affect GSI Commerce can be found in its most recent Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and other reports and statements filed by GSI Commerce with the SEC. GSI Commerce expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
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GSI Commerce, Inc.
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