UPS announced today it has acquired U.S.-based global ecommerce enabler and logistics company i-parcel for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition complements UPS’s international cross-border logistics capabilities from the U.S. and U.K., now extending to more than 100 countries.
The move was made to strengthen UPS’s global ecommerce capabilities as worldwide online sales continue to grow. The company cited a report from PayPal that estimated cross-border ecommerce sales will total $105 billion in 2014, nearly tripling to $300 billion and 130 million shoppers by 2018.
“UPS continues to look ahead to the expanding worldwide demands in the ever-growing global ecommerce market,” said Alan Gershenhorn, UPS’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, in a press release. “UPS continues to invest in capabilities that enable its e-commerce merchants to meet the growing global demand.”
“i-parcel has been an international bridge linking U.S. and U.K. merchants to ecommerce consumers throughout the world, and our team is excited to join with UPS to further globalize ecommerce,” said i-parcel CEO Will Gensburg, who will remain with the company, in the release.
i-parcel connects merchants to more than 100 million global shoppers with an integrated platform that provides a localized look and feel on the merchant’s site. Its platform supports merchants with a local language welcome mat, fraud protection and a listing of fully-landed costs (adding customs, duties and taxes) in the local currency. i-parcel also provides low-cost deferred international transportation, which helps merchants achieve higher conversion rates on lower-value goods.