Made4net, a provider of supply chain execution solutions majorly focusing on warehouse management system, announced that it has been acquired by Ingka Investments, an investment arm of Ingka Group. Ingka group, a holding company focuses on 3 main business areas – IKEA Retail, Ingka Centers, and Ingka Investments. Ingka is owner and operator of 482 IKEA stores across 31 countries.
As a part of overall business development investment portfolio and retail transformation, Ingka Group completes its acquisition of Made4net. Made4net, now a subsidiary of Ingka Group, will maintain its independence and will continue working with existing global offices. The acquisition opens up more investment opportunities for Made4net to enhance its supply chain software platform.
IKEA, as a customer will implement/deploy Made4net’s warehouse management system and omnichannel fulfilment solutions into all IKEA stores and fulfilment centers, which might be the largest implementation in the world. In long term, IKEA will be able to obtain end to end supply chain visibility, improve speed & accuracy of order fulfilments across multiple countries and locations enhancing customer satisfaction.
Made4net has an excellent track record of providing seamless integration with customer systems, process automation, resource & inventory optimization, visualization & analytics for extracting right data and monitor KPIs, supporting change management, and eliminate warehouse downtimes leading to higher productivity, traceability, and faster order fulfilments.
“The Made4net platform has had a long customer track record for fast implementation and the ability to pivot quickly with changing business and market dynamics,” said Duff Davidson, Made4net CEO. “We’re excited to expand those capabilities for all of our customers through the increased backing of Ingka and also look forward to transforming the future of unified commerce by helping IKEA’s global retail network deliver on its omnichannel fulfilment vision.”
According to Neelam Singh, Practice Director at Quadrant Knowledge Solutions “Ingka Group’s acquisition of Made4net brings together complementary strengths and resources”. She further adds “The investment and support from Ingka Group will help propel Made4net’s growth, improve its supply chain software platform, expand its customer base, and provide better customer support services globally.”
Technology investments by industry leaders have become a common and promising trend in the supply chain world. Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, by the virtue of tracking the global market for retail and WMS (Warehouse Management Systems), has observed numerous instances where such investments have yielded positive outcomes.
These strategic acquisitions and investments hold immense potential, and while it may be too early to comment on specific synergies between Ingka Group and Made4net, history has shown that such collaborations can lead to remarkable success for both parties. Post a 2-year long deliberation, this acquisition will empower IKEA’s roadmap of providing a retailer-customer interactions in the unified retail & e-commerce market. On the other hand, it will help Made4net in developing sustainable supply chain solutions for small & large organizations across all geographies. Both companies have a lot to look forward to with this acquisition and it will be interesting to see what it brings in the long run.
Author : Pruthvi Raj, Analyst and Neelam Singh, Practice Director at Quadrant Knowledge Solutions.
