Book People, the online and workplace book retailer has announced its acquisition of mail order and online gift business Qwerkity from its private owners. Qwerkity was founded in 1989 by Jane Hudson as a mail order business offering a range of gifts. In the year to the end of January 2017, Qwerkity achieved sales of £9.1 million. It now operates a significant online arm with much of its customer acquisition generated via digital channels and distributes eight million catalogues a year.
Book People has also evolved since being established in 1988 and generated £79 million sales in the year ended December 2016. Having been acquired by Endless in 2014, the book specialist has developed its eCommerce business significantly via investment in content.
William Wellesley, chief executive, Book People said “Bringing Qwerkity into the Book People family gives us a great opportunity to grow its business using our digital, buying and fulfilment expertise. Our expansion into the gifting market, through this acquisition, also represents the natural next step for Book People.”
Francesco Santinon, partner at Endless added “Book People is a well known, well established and profitable business with great future earnings potential in its own right. We are very happy to be able to support the acquisition of Qwerkity which is an ideal bolt-on and will allow us to fully utilise the core strengths of Book People.”
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