American Eagle Outfitters announced Wednesday that it has completed the $360 million acquisition of Massachusetts-based Quiet Logistics and other strategic investments, allowing it to offer same-day and next-day shipping to customers from American Eagle stores.
Quiet Logistics operates in-market fulfillment centers across the country, including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Jacksonville, Florida, for over 50 direct-to-consumer and omnichannel brands such as Outdoor Voices and Mack Weldon. Quiet Logistics will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Eagle after the acquisition but will continue to operate independently.
“AEO’s unique ability to reduce delivery costs in the face of rising inflation is a direct reflection of the efficiencies provided by their innovative fulfillment model,” said Jay Schottenstein, CEO and executive chairman of the board at American Eagle. “Quiet Logistics has a highly experienced supply chain leadership team, and I look forward to working with them as we drive operational excellence and grow the platform into a meaningful business.”
The acquisition of Quiet Logistics comes at a time when American Eagle (NYSE: AEO) is expanding its omnichannel presence –– the company’s digital revenues in the third quarter of FY2021 were up 10% year over year and up 42% over the same period in 2019. This is due in part to the expansion of American Eagle’s same-day delivery service, customer self-checkout, and virtual selling tool AE Live.
However, the company’s omnichannel sales have been boosted the most by its Aerie brand, which was founded in 2006 but has recently driven strong digital growth. Its sales in Q3 2021 totaled $315 million, a 28 percent increase over the same period last year and a 70 percent increase over Q3 2019. It was the American Eagle subsidiary’s 28th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.
Quiet Logistics will complement American Eagle’s other recent acquisition, AirTerra, a logistics startup founded by a former Nordstrom executive. The acquisition was seen as highly unusual at the time, as American Eagle’s only previous acquisitions were of two clothing companies, but the company says overhauling its supply chain is part of its long-term vision.
“Transforming our supply chain to increase agility, speed, and diversification is an important pillar of our strategy.” “Our goal is to build an on-demand, hyper-scaled operations platform that enables brand success,” Schottenstein explained.
