Ingka Group, the parent company of Swedish furniture retailer IKEA, today said it has acquired the warehouse management system (WMS) software provider Made4net to meet “unprecedented demand” for e-commerce and omnichannel services.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed but the acquisition was done by Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, a Dutch holding company which is the largest owner and operator of 482 IKEA stores in 31 countries. Ingka bought the firm from its private equity owner, Thompson Street Capital Partners.
Following the deal, Made4net will continue to operate as an independent subsidiary based in New Jersey, and to serve its existing customer base. That base has been growing lately, after Made4net in 2022 acquired fellow WMS provider Zethcon, saying the deal was a move to grow its market share in the third party logistics (3PL) sector.
“The Made4net platform has had a long customer track record for fast implementation and the ability to pivot quickly with changing business and market dynamics,” Duff Davidson, Made4net CEO, said in a release. “We’re excited to expand those capabilities for all of our customers through the increased backing of Ingka and also look forward to transforming the future of unified commerce by helping IKEA’s global retail network deliver on its omnichannel fulfillment vision.”
According to Ingka Investments, buying Made4net will provide it with the supply chain software necessary to improve its order fulfilment landscape. This will increase the capacity needed for a successful end-to-end customer experience, making it likely the largest implementation of a WMS solution in the world, the firm said.
More specifically, Ingka Group will integrate Made4net’s fulfilment operations system to improve the omnichannel experience for customers and co-workers in stores. That approach will allow IKEA to meet “unprecedented demand” for warehouse and fulfilment solutions within the retail sector, following an increase in online shopping and changes in consumer behavior during the last few years.
“Our business currently requires a better fulfilment operations system with more accurate data that better supports order handling for our customers. Our goal is to become leaders of life at home, serving more people in an omnichannel reality, whenever and however customers choose to meet us,” Tolga Öncu, head of retail at Ingka Group, said in a release.
