Harry and David acquires gourmet foods direct marketer Wolferman’s
Harry and David Holdings Inc. is acquiring Wolferman’s, a direct marketer and wholesaler of specialty foods and gifts, from Williams Foods Inc. Williams is a specialty foods manufacturer headquartered in Shawnee Mission, KS.
Terms of the deal for Wolferman’s, which generates annual sales of about $28 million, weren’t disclosed. “The two companies’ brands are very complementary,” says Harry and David CEO Bill Williams. “This acquisition will leverage Harry and David’s infrastructure and create strong marketing synergies for both companies.”
Wolferman’s is known for its English muffins and other breakfast products sold online at Wolfermans.com and through its catalogs. “We see a significant growth opportunity to expand Wolferman’s direct marketing, Internet and wholesale businesses,” Williams says.
At the same time Harry and David, No. 75 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, is making acquisitions, the company is also updating HarryandDavid.com with more rich media and personalization.
Before the holidays, Harry and David launched new rich media applications from Scene7 Inc. that give customers the ability to enlarge product images and zoom in and see the merchandise in greater detail.
Harry and David also added other features such as a new application that lets customers type in their zip code and receive specific delivery dates based on the type of shipping method they select. “We went through a pretty extensive redesign of our product page presentation,” says Harry and David vice president of Internet marketing Anne Ashbey.
For the 2007 year, Harry and David posted web sales of $176.8 million vs. $166.4 million in fiscal 2006. Barbara Hurd, senior manager, Internet business development, at Harry and David is speaking at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition, June 9-12 in Chicago in a session titled Advanced Strategies for Marketing Your Retail Web Site .
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