FRANCE—Puratos, a global bakery ingredient specialist has acquired the French startup Rapidle, a provider of personalized e-commerce solutions with plans to strengthen its online business presence.
Puratos plans to merge Rapidle with another startup they acquired 4 years ago, Bakeronline, a platform where artisan shops can sell to clients from all over the country.
The company expects that merging the two digital platforms will enable it meet the growing demand from local shops in terms of digitization and visibility thus increasing their turnover.
The amalgamation of the two will enable Puratos’ hosting base to jump from 750 artisans to over 5,000 businesses within the next three years.
Founded in 2015 by Steeve Broutin and Yann Browaeys, Rapidle has become the French market leader in Click & Collect solutions, allowing local businesses to easily create a personalised online store, website and mobile applications.
“The merger of Bakeronline with Rapidle reinforces the Puratos Group’s promise to encourage and support bakery, patisserie and chocolate professionals in their digital transformation,” said Sophie Blum, chief marketing & channels officer for Puratos.
“We want to be the technological partner of their choice in our industry, thanks to innovative, effective and simple solutions.”
Added Maxim Sergeant, founder and CEO of Bakeronline, “France has many dynamic artisans. Through the combined efforts of Rapidle, Bakeronline and Puratos, we will enable them to focus on product creation and innovation while growing their business. We want to be vectors of innovation.”
“Over the past two decades, online presence has become a strategic pillar for many companies in multiple sectors to maintain and grow their business,” said Sergeant.
According to internet domain name registry AFNIC in its study on artisans (Sondage du Monde des Artisans et de l’AFNIC), 100% of local shop owners are convinced that it is essential to have an online presence today.
Research and Markets estimates that global e-commerce market reached a value of US$ 13 Trillion in 2021 and forecast to reach US$ 55.6 Trillion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 27.4% during 2022-2027.
Although growing at a steady rate, the pandemic really accelerated the importance and urgent need among artisans for digitalization.
“It is from this need that Bakeronline was born, almost 10 years ago now, to allow local businesses to easily create their personalised online store, website and mobile application so that they can deliver their products to a greater number of customers in the most convenient and simple way.”
The merger with Rapidle will allow Bakeronline to strengthen its presence on the French market, and is another step in its goal to become the largest global e-commerce platform for bakers, pâtissiers and chocolatiers.
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