Copyright independent
Turnover at the Irish entity, US Direct Ecommerce, also declined, by 15pc from €1.18bn to €1.01bn. The group has been cutting costs, shedding a chunk of staff this year. Employee numbers at US Direct Ecommerce also fell to 435 last year from 498 in 2023. With revenue declining, ESW’s ambition of listing on the stock market now looks like being delayed as the company navigates a tougher environment. Industry insiders say that an optimistic date for such a move would now be sometime in 2027. ESW works with retailers across the world, such as Nike and Calvin Klein, to help them localise their websites for about 200 markets. The technology helps brands handle everything from online ordering and buying to dealing with taxes and tariffs, delivery, returns, fraud protection and data security. It’s believed that Nike is among ESW’s biggest customers. Nike has been struggling to maintain sales, especially on its digital channels, which suggest a knock-on effect for ESW. ESW lost Victoria’s Secret as a customer during 2024, which accounted for as much as 10pc of its revenue. The directors of US Direct Ecommerce confirm that the firm saw an 8pc fall in its gross profit last year, to €111.6m. The business will continue to expand and invest in a targeted and strategic manner “This is mainly due to a decrease in revenues of a key client for this group entity and a wider spread of revenues across other group companies as we diversify our portfolio into new business verticals and markets,” they note. “The business will continue to expand and invest in a targeted and strategic manner, so as to provide the right solutions for our expanding number of enterprise clients, and provide the basis for the company’s future growth strategy,” the accounts add. “There will be a continued focus on new and emerging markets and business verticals including consumer electronics across the group for 2025 and beyond as part of the overall group strategy,” the directors point out. The business was formerly known as eShopworld and was founded by Irish entrepreneur Tommy Kelly. ESW’s owner, Asendia, is a joint venture between units of France’s La Poste and Switzerland’s La Poste Suisse. Asendia had been a shareholder since 2013 and had raised its stake in the business to 50.1pc in 2017 before eventually buying out the business in 2021. “As the business has matured and grown in scale, the relative pace of growth from existing, established, early adopter brands have eased and ESW’s growth focus is now evolving to place much greater emphasis on new business from emerging enterprise scale brands, and indeed to new product lines, including consumer electronics,” the accounts for US Direct Ecommerce. “This transition involves a five-year investment programme now underway across our platform and will result in more moderate growth in the near term, whilst driving stronger, more sustainable new business growth thereafter,” they add. “The company continues to develop a strong balance sheet for future growth and investment.”
