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Walmart's takeover drama continues. Just months after acquiring apparel and lingerie brands ELOQUII and Bare Necessities, respectively, the company on Thursday announced plans to acquire assets from online art and wall decor retailer Art.com. The all-cash transaction is expected to close in early 2019 and includes Art.com's catalog, IP, trade name and U.S. operations.
Walmart did not disclose the value of the deal, but the company said it is consistent in size with other deals it has entered into over the past several years.
According to CNBC, Art.com generates more than $300 million in annual revenue.
In a statement, Walmart described Art.com, founded in 1998, as “the world's largest online retailer of art and decor categories.” It is also noted that Art.com's wide selection includes 2 million of his carefully selected images that customers purchase as posters, prints, and other artwork for their homes.
The site offers on-demand and customization capabilities, and the majority of its inventory is printed on-demand at the time of order. This is convenient because it means that Walmart does not need to have large inventory stores for this home decor business. Most are made to order. All repairs, including custom frames and installations on canvas or wood, will also be done on-site, Walmart said.
The Art.com site includes technology like visual search and ways to visualize art on your walls, and is funded by Affirm and installed by Handy, another Walmart partner. doing.
Walmart said its plan is to operate the Art.com assets as independent and complementary sites. In the future, he plans to add Art.com's assortment to Walmart.com, Jet.com and Hayneedle.com. By doing so, customers will have access to “millions of additional choices including art, wall decor, personalized print-on-demand features, and more,” Walmart said.
Walmart told TechCrunch that more information about the organization will be available in the coming weeks, including which leaders from Art.com will join Walmart. The business will become part of Walmart's U.S. e-commerce home team, led by Anthony Sufu.
The company has been steadily expanding its assortment in long-tail categories such as home decor, one of the focus areas of the Walmart.com website redesign rolled out earlier this year. The updated site offers a more modern, clean look, deeper personalization, improved recommendations, and the addition of specialized shopping experiences in areas like home and fashion.
Art.com is now one of many acquisitions Walmart has made to capture more of the e-commerce market across these and other categories, including ModCloth ($75 million) and Bonobos ($310 million). Millions), Moosejaw ($51 million), ShoeBuy, Jet.com ($3 billion) and Hayneedle, and more recently ELOQUII and Bare Necessities.