WPP acquires ecommerce consultancy Newcraft

WPP (NYSE: WPP) today announces that it is acquiring Newcraft, a leading, data-first European ecommerce consultancy based in the Netherlands.

Newcraft unlocks business opportunities for its global clients including Ahold Delhaize, Pon Holdings, Yakult and JDE Peet’s by combining transformation strategy with operational commerce expertise to deliver growth and tangible business results. Founded in 2007, Newcraft supports organisations in realising change, reaching growth targets and mastering digital capabilities.

The 155-strong business will join the Wunderman Thompson global network, complementing its well-established commerce and marketing services teams in Northern Europe.

The acquisition will further strengthen WPP’s digital commerce capabilities and reflects the company’s ongoing investment into its commerce offer for clients as consumer needs continue to change. It is aligned with WPP's accelerated growth strategy, building on existing capabilities in the areas of commerce and technology. WPP is ranked as a Leader in Forrester's global Commerce Services Wave, and already manages more than $40bn of direct and $20bn of marketplace GMV for clients and employs 13,500 commerce specialists across its agencies.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said: “With consumer behaviours and use of new ecommerce channels continuing to change at a rapid pace, brands need innovative solutions to reach customers and new audiences. As we continue to invest in growth areas, Newcraft’s extensive experience of transforming the digital offering of some of Europe’s leading companies will further strengthen our global commerce proposition and drive results for clients.”

Neil Stewart, CEO of Wunderman Thompson Commerce & Technology, said: “Newcraft brings a unique mix of commerce expertise in strategy and operations and fuses it with industry-specific capability across retail, FMCG, wholesale and mobility. Combined with our leading commerce technology and customer experience in the Netherlands, I’m excited about how Newcraft will help us accelerate our end-to-end commerce services for clients in the region and across the world.”

Martijn Haanappel, Director and Founder of Newcraft, said: “We are very excited to start this new chapter. When we look back at the past 15 years, we’re extremely proud of the strong company we’ve created: we’ve built very talented teams; a dynamic and open culture; and an impressive track record with our clients. By joining WPP and the Wunderman Thompson network we have found the perfect match to start the next phase of our growth ambition. Combining our digital acceleration capabilities with Wunderman Thompson’s market-leading commerce expertise will undoubtedly lead to amazing opportunities for both our people and clients.”

About WPP

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities. For more information, visit www.wpp.com.

About Wunderman Thompson Commerce

At Wunderman Thompson Commerce we inspire people to transact.

Part creative agency, part consultancy and part technology company, we are unique in our ability to connect world-class strategic thinking and creative insight with deep executional capability across technology and operations to deliver winning commerce solutions across all major digital routes to market worldwide: marketplaces, online retailers, D2C, B2B and social commerce.

We are a diverse team of 2000+ commerce experts across more than 25 offices worldwide, who believe that growth through commerce begins with connected customer experiences that amplify the brand and drive business outcomes. We excel at orchestrating commerce touchpoints through intelligent deployment and integration of world class technology from strategic partners like Adobe, Bloomreach, SAP, Salesforce, Sitecore, HCL, Shopify, BigCommerce & commerce tools, as well as driving sales from marketplaces (Amazon, Tmall and beyond) and retailers.

Our clients include Bosch, DFS, Johnson & Johnson, MAC, Nestlé, Sainsbury’s, Selfridges, Shell, Specialized, Tempur and Tiffany & Co.

Wunderman Thompson Commerce is a WPP agency, recognised as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Commerce Services, Q1 2021. More details on the achievement can be found here.

For more information on Wunderman Thompson Commerce, please visit us at www.wundermanthompsoncommerce.com and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

About Newcraft

Newcraft is a data-first digital acceleration consultancy specialising in commerce. Combining transformation strategy at C–level with digital acceleration capabilities at operating level to deliver tangible business results to blue-chip clients. We combine broad industry knowledge with our intense digital expertise to deliver added value to our clients and to create an inspiring environment for our strategy, commerce, data and crm teams.

For more information, visit www.newcraftgroup.com.

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