Havas Group builds e-commerce momentum with the acquisition of Expert Edge
Havas Group has lit a rocket under its e-commerce business with the acquisition of Expert Edge, a consultancy dedicated to furnishing clients with end-to-end support across their e-commerce ecosystem.
Havas Group has acquired Expert Edge
The deal positions the French advertising and public relations multinational at the forefront of the burgeoning e-commerce market by fueling the expansion of its UK-based full-service e-commerce agency Havas Market.
Extending Havas Market beyond media, the acquisition brings new capabilities in data insights and reporting; Amazon Advertising PPC; product listing and SEO boosting; and content optimization and DSP. Together these services span the customer journey from awareness and attention to the point of sale.
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Yannick Bolloré, chairman and chief executive officer of Havas Group, said: “This acquisition turbocharges our Havas Market offering, which has been purpose-built from the outset to help our clients manage and optimize their business performance in e-commerce. Our ambition is to make the Havas Group, through Havas Market, an end-to-end e-commerce partner for companies, capable of providing them with truly customer-centric strategies across the entire customer journey, from their website to their points of sale, including marketplaces.”
Expert Edge co-founder David Jennison will become chief executive of the business going forward, in addition to responsibilities as managing director of Havas Market. Founded in 2016, Expert Edge has a history with over 100 brands, including Unilever.
Jennison added: “We have developed a powerful mix of technology, data analytics and commercial frameworks to deliver optimal growth strategy for brands on Amazon. While our origins are in Amazon, our capabilities, services and expertise are channel agnostic and malleable across categories and sale on any retail channel.”
Breakneck expansion since its formation in October 2020 has seen Havas Market expand to 20 markets, with a client list that includes Dreams, Pernod Ricard and JDE.
Havas’s hunger for growth was demonstrated most recently by the eight-figure acquisition of digital experience agency Inviqa and the purchases of Leeds-based digital agency Search Laboratory and creative optimization provider Additive+.