expertise with e-commerce 3PL acquisitions?

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May 24, 2024

by a searcher from Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management in Atlanta, GA, USA

Know anyone who can give me advice here?

-e-commerce 3PL acquisition
-only 3 years old but showing great numbers
-Seller rebrands all products that are manufactured by others
-Nearly absentee run, almost no employees.

I've founded and run a global business before, but not in this. My expertise is sales and marketing. For e-commerce 3PL, I've read books and know enough to be dangerous. Am I playing with fire?

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Reply by a searcher
in Vancouver, BC, Canada
What is the business' moat?

Also, how would the business be impacted in the following scenarios:
- Amazon starts selling their own white-labeled version, perhaps even using the same manufacturer
- There are 10 other entrants into this space, all silkscreening their logos onto the product that's manufactured by your same supplier
- The manufacturer starts selling direct on Amazon

How has ROAS been trending over the past 12 months? They may be selling because it's skyrocketing, compressing their margin.

In general, these types of businesses are very high risk with a 2-4 yr lifetime. You may want to listen to a few "Acquisitions Anonymous" podcasts where the host is Bill D'Allesandro. He has a lot of knowledge about the 3PL / ecommerce space.
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Reply by a searcher
in London, UK
Hi ^redacted‌, me and my partner are active in the e-com space. Can perhaps offer some perspective/insight.
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