Demonstrating value to potential buyers without “insane” sales numbers

[badsha0025]

Felix: How do you make sure that your business looks attractive to a parent company coming in and partnering with you?

Alex: We had a lot to offer in many ways, and in some ways less to offer than other companies that they were looking to bring into their fold or looking at. We certainly were not the biggest operation at the time. We didn’t have insane sales and profitability numbers, although we were a very profitable business at the time, which would be attractive to anybody I suppose who’s looking. The biggest thing is we had some proprietary knowledge and we had experience in something that this business wanted to be more experienced in, which was simply ecommerce home furnishings. We’ve been able to work together. Our presence over the last few years in their organization, whether directly or indirectly, has promoted many changes that have supported their own ecommerce business and reach.

Us having the experience and knowledge for the previous six or seven years in the ecommerce home furnishing space was probably the most attractive thing, and the fact that we were making money doing it was also very attractive because it’s very difficult to make money in the ecommerce furnishings industry. I can tell you that first-hand.

A blush colored loved seat with a marble coffee table in a living room setting.
Having industry knowledge and operating profitably were key factors peru phone data that Apt2B became attractive as an acquisition to their parent company. Apt2B
Felix: What is it that they’re actually purchasing when they’re looking for something like the proprietary knowledge? How do you make sure that you build the knowledge and experience into your company so that the company itself looks attractive to a buyer?

Alex: Our biggest advantage outside of just general experience in the different areas–be it sales, customer service, marketing, logistics that go into running an ecommerce in our industry–was most prominently our marketing and brand positioning. That drew The RoomPlace to be attracted to Apt2B. We have always positioned ourselves as a brand first entity. The personality, the product curation, and everything else that goes along with that were perhaps the most interesting things. Our brand has changed over time. Sometimes it can be a little bit difficult to define in a nutshell exactly what Apt2B is all about, because we’re about a number of things. At the end of the day we have a very strong clearly defined presence in an industry where presence and personality are very much lacking. That was probably the thing that drew them and others to us the most.

In the apparel industry there’s no shortage of personality and players really putting forth a different voice or brand feel, but in the furniture industry–even today–it’s still quite rare. That’s something that we always offered that they or others may have been attracted to.