Lightspeed POS the most powerful point-of-sale (POS) platform for retailers and restaurateurs, announced the acquisition of Amsterdam-based eCommerce software company SEOshop. As part of the acquisition, Lightspeed is launching Lightspeed eCom, its new eCommerce platform.
For retailers who need to compete in an increasingly competitive, global retail environment, Lightspeed eCom offers a localized, multi-lingual, multi-currency eCommerce platform. Lightspeed's first offering for online-only merchants also features predictive analytics, full design customization and the ability to manage complex inventory needs. In the coming months, Lightspeed will integrate Lightspeed eCom with its Lightspeed Retail cloud-based POS solution, bringing multi-channel retailers an even more robust set of tools to run their entire business from one place.
"This is an enormous step in the evolution of our company. We set out to help independent retailers grow and thrive by giving them a POS with the same back-office tools used by big retail in a user-friendly, mobile package," said Dax Dasilva, CEO, Lightspeed POS. "With the industry rapidly digitizing, online-only merchant demand has grown exponentially. Bringing SEOshop into the Lightspeed family gives us additional scale, and allows us to help store owners create a global shopping experience and sell smarter- all from an iPad- no matter how their customers choose to shop."
SEOshop is the fastest growing eCommerce platform in Europe, doubling revenue every year and growing more than 1000% since receiving VC investment from henQ in 2011. SEOshop currently serves more than 8,000 leading online merchants including Heineken, Philips Lighting, National Geographic Netherlands and the Van Gogh Museum, all of whom will become Lightspeed eCom customers. As part of the deal, SEOshop CEO Ruud Stelder will join the Lightspeed leadership team as director of global eCommerce revenue, and CTO Dennis Cuijpers will become Lightspeed's director of eCommerce development and architecture.
"For a global brand, SEOshop's robust, multilingual platform is the perfect fit for the demands of our international scope. They make it easy to manage our international presence, and we've always felt confident that our data— and our customers' data— is secure," said Michael Wantens, marketing manager, Philips Lighting. "As we look to grow our omnichannel presence, we're thrilled to have access to Lightspeed's technology and strong international reputation. With this acquisition, we are able to keep the eCommerce solution we know and trust, while gaining a strong platform for future international growth."
This news comes in a banner year for Lightspeed. In September 2015, Lightspeed announced US $61 million in funding. With the acquisition of SEOshop, the company now serves 34,000 businesses in more than 100 countries, processing US $12 billion in annual transactions.
Lightspeed eCom is now the most complete, all-in-one eCommerce solution on the market for independent retailers. Merchants now have an easy-to-use, yet highly customizable, solution that enables them to launch their online stores quickly and with minimal technical requirements. They can market their products, sell to anyone from anywhere, adapt to international requirements, and analyze customer and store performance data for insights that help drive sales. Features include:
- Ease of Use: Enables merchants to build and launch their online store quickly and easily. With over 100 professionally designed and fully customizable templates, retailers can create a site that reflects their brand in under an hour.
- Advanced Inventory Management: Offers the inventory tools independent retailers need to compete, including the ability to bulk import and export items; set up product variations, bundles and promotions; and feature products by brand or collection.
- Global Sales Capabilities: Supports sales in 14 languages and all currencies; manage inventory, product set-up and currencies across languages with a few clicks. Lightspeed eCom also offers integration with leading international payments providers and automatically calculates international tax.
- Marketing Suite: Provides a complete set of marketing tools, including SEO optimization, social sharing and a built-in blogging platform.
Lightspeed eCom is now shipping in Europe, with an initial preview available immediately in the U.S & Canada. The full version of Lightspeed eCom as well as the integration with Lightspeed Retail for U.S. customers is expected to launch in Q1 2016.
