Brand acquirers are spending big! They will acquire more than 1,000 sellers next year

According to the survey, Amazon's third-party brand acquirers (brand aggregators) plan to start a "buy, buy, buy" mode next year and are willing to "pay any fee" for third-party sellers.

That’s according to a recent survey by Fortunet, a company that helps facilitate deals between acquirers (brand aggregators) and third-party sellers. The survey, conducted in June, surveyed 42 third-party brand acquirers and asked them a variety of questions, including the types of sellers they like, their requirements for sellers, and acquisition prices.

In addition to Fortunet, Marketplace Pulse also participated in the survey. Marketplace Pulse CEO Juozas Kaziukėnas believes that since most third-party brand acquirers have just completed financing, he expects the acquisition volume of these companies to surge in the next year.

"Most aggregators were founded after 2020 and have raised a lot of money in the past 12 months, which is only starting to come in. More sellers will be acquired next year compared to 2021," said Kaziukėnas. The survey report also shows that the number of sellers acquired by these companies next year is expected to exceed 1,000. Most acquirers intend to acquire more than 15 businesses in the next 12 months.

In terms of the purchase price for a single seller, 53% of acquirers said there was no upper limit on their offer. The highest purchase price for other companies ranged from $500,000 to $30 million.

According to the survey, brand acquirers prefer product categories that are easy to manage or generally do not face huge regulatory requirements, such as home and garden products, pet products, certain baby products, outdoor equipment and personal care products. At the same time, they will generally avoid merchants selling toys, clothing, electronics, supplements, food and fashion.

Most acquirers said that sellers who sell through other channels, such as Shopify, Walmart and eBay, generally do not receive high valuations, but some acquirers said they are willing to increase valuations if sellers from other channels can achieve significant sales.

More than half of buyers said they require sellers to have a profit margin of at least 15%. Many acquirers said they are willing to buy young companies, and 46% of respondents said they require third-party sellers to have at least one year of operating history.

When faced with an acquisition, will the seller choose to retreat or continue to fight?

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