After a period of relatively “easy” growth and attractive margins, independent ecommerce players are increasingly under pressure from the ecommerce giants. One answer is the building of a strong customer base and brand where M&A often is an effective way forward, says Jürgen Schwarz, Capitalmind Investec’s Partner for Retail & Consumer Goods.

Welcome, Jürgen. Tell us, how can M&A help to build a brand?

M&A can significantly support the brand building strategy of an online retailer, either by raising growth capital or by attracting a strategic partner with strong reach to the relevant customer base, e.g. via wide (social) media coverage.   One particular variant of M&A is a media partnership with a company like SevenVentures and this is really relevant in supporting a brand building strategy. These media-for-equity and media-for-revenue partnerships have been the driving force behind household brand names like Zalando and Lieferando.

The full interview is available here.