Salesforce to acquire Demandware for US$2.8 billion

octomedia

2nd Jun 2016

Cloud software company, Salesforce, will acquire e-commerce platform Demandware for US$2.8 billion, to expand the CRM company’s offering in the online retail space.

“With Demandware, Salesforce will be well positioned to deliver the future of commerce as part of our Customer Success Platform and create yet another billion dollar cloud,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, Salesforce.

Salesforce will commence a tender offer for all outstanding shares of Demandware for US$75 per share, in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of Salesforce’s fiscal year 2017, ending July 31, 2016.

The deal will create a new business division for Salesforce called Salesforce Commerce Cloud.

“Demandware and Salesforce share the same passionate focus on customer success,” said Tom Ebling, CEO, Demandware. “Becoming part of Salesforce will accelerate our vision to empower the world’s leading brands with the most innovative digital commerce solutions that enable them to connect 1:1 with customers across any channel.”

Announcing the deal, Salesforce cited researched from Gartner that worldwide spending on digital commerce platforms is expected to grow at over 14 per cent annually, reaching US$8.544 billion by 2020.

According to the official spiel, “The Salesforce Commerce Cloud will be an integral part of Salesforce’s Customer Success Platform, creating opportunities for companies to connect with their customers in entirely new ways. Salesforce customers will have access to the industry’s leading enterprise cloud commerce platform, and Demandware’s customers will be able to leverage Salesforce’s leading sales, service, marketing, communities, analytics, IoT and platform solutions to deliver a more comprehensive, personalised consumer experience.”