Blue Wheel, an omni-channel digital commerce agency in Birmingham, and Retail Bloom, an e-commerce marketplace agency in Rochester Hills, today announced their merger to form the joint venture, Blue Wheel.
The merger of Blue Wheel and Retail Bloom showcases the momentum of the burgeoning e-commerce industry in both metro Detroit and across the U.S. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
With the financial backing of Longshore Capital Partners, a private equity group out of Chicago, this new partnership enhances Blue Wheel’s range of services and breadth of experience across the omni-channel landscape. Blue Wheel now has over $1 billion in e-commerce revenue under management across its clients.
“Our mission at Blue Wheel has been to serve as the leading agency in omni-channel digital commerce. With this merger, we can service our clients’ entire e-commerce landscape under one roof” says Eitan Reshef, CEO of Blue Wheel.
“We believe it’s entirely unique to offer everything from e-commerce advertising to fulfillment to creative to customer service. We fundamentally believe that if a brand wants to succeed from ‘click to ship’, they now have the opportunity to consolidate strategy and execution under one primary partner — Blue Wheel.”
The company will continue to focus on hiring in the Detroit area to fuel its growth, while maintaining its team across 15 states, including its satellite outpost and creative studio in New York City.
“Brands have notoriously looked at e-commerce as a bifurcated strategy — ‘on versus off Amazon.’ Over the past few years, agencies followed suit and became either Amazon agencies or e-commerce agencies that focus on brand’s owned websites,” says Tom Sesti, president of Blue Wheel and former president at Retail Bloom.
“By partnering with our friends at Blue Wheel, we can now bring our incredible expertise together, servicing a brand’s complete omni-channel strategy with a singular point of contact. This is our answer to e-commerce now and in the future.”
In 2020, Blue Wheel launched its proprietary in-house advertising technology, Companion, and was named one of 18 of the most important companies in the marketplace industry by Insider.
Retail Bloom was launched in 2015 by founders with a combined 40 years of retail and brand experience. After seeing significant e-commerce growth and mastering the marketplace through brand experimentation as sellers themselves, Retail Bloom brought its expertise to brands looking for success in their own marketplace efforts.
By applying seller strategies to guide medium and enterprise-level brands, Retail Bloom places importance on building meaningful relationships that transcend business transactions providing full-service support including content optimizations, advertising, back-end ops support, and growth plans.
“Blue Wheel’s talented and committed team has built an impressive business, with a profound focus on providing a full suite of e-commerce solutions to its expanding portfolio of leading retail and distributor partners through the use of best-in-class proprietary technology,” says Nick Christopher, co-founder and partner at Longshore Capital Partners. “We are excited to partner with the company to accelerate its growth trajectory and execute on our shared strategic plan.”
For more information, visit bluewheelmedia.com.
