Transportation Insight, a logistics technology and services provider based in Hickory, NC, has acquired Spend Management Experts, a leading parcel spend management consultancy, to augment its expansion into the ecommerce and small parcel space as it continues to grow rapidly.
Logistics and supply chain expertise has become even more critical in the past year, with retail and ecommerce shippers facing various price hikes and carrier network capacity issues. The deal closed at the end of December, and terms were not disclosed.
Spend Management Experts’ supply chain customers range across retail, manufacturing and distribution in consumer products, medical, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, luxury and consumer electronics, which the companies said aligns with Transportation Insight’s vertical strategy. Blue-chip names include GNC, Caterpillar, Jockey, Petco, Ulta Beauty, Salvatore Ferragamo and Build-A-Bear Workshop.
John Haber, founder and CEO of Spend Management Experts, will stay on and run Transportation Insights’s small parcel division based out of his company’s office in Atlanta. The division had been created when TI acquired BirdDog Solutions in 2015.
“We are excited to join the Transportation Insight team,” said Haber in a release. “By combining both companies’ scale, we provide more resources to our existing customer base, and create one of the largest small parcel management and optimization companies in North America.”
Ken Beyer, CEO of parent company Transportation Insight Holdco, said the addition of Spend Management Experts was very complementary to the company’s existing services, adding depth and expertise in parcel and ecommerce.
“We’ve seen so much growth (in both areas) that it’s something we want to continue to invest in,” said Beyer, who came over in October from Ingram Micro Commerce. “It’s a case of one plus one equals three (with BirdDog and SME). The SME folks are great at integrated channel strategy. That combined with their expertise and our technology, plus John’s presence in the market, gives us access to a new range of customers.”