Granite Digital acquisition of Willows Consulting will add 120 e-commerce customers from across Ireland, the UK, the US and Asia.
Cork-born digital agency Granite has acquired Dublin e-commerce specialist Willows Consulting for an undisclosed sum.
Granite says it has further acquisitions planned as it consolidates its position as the largest independent digital agency in Ireland.
“Our digital-first mindset is driving our continued success. We expect 2022 to be stronger again as we look to accelerate our business expansion through organic growth and further strategic acquisitions”
The company’s revenues for 2021 grew 20% to €7.3m and post-acquisition of Willows are tipped to grow 25% to €9m in 2022.
Consolidating the digital market
With offices in Cork, Dublin and Galway, Granite has grown to become Ireland’s largest independent digital agency. Its growing client base includes leading Irish and international brands such as Lidl, Dalata Hotel Group, Bord Bia and Huawei. Its innovative collaboration with Huawei Mobile enabled Granite to win ‘Best Influencer Led Campaign’ at the recent 2022 Spiders Awards. Granite has also recently been certified as a Great Place to Work.
The acquisition of Willows Consulting will add 120 Willows customers from across Ireland, UK, US and Asia – including National Gallery of Ireland, Bord Na Mona, CityJet, Fexco and the FAI.
In recent years, Granite has acquired and successfully integrated several digital businesses including Connector, Webtrade, MediaOne and Apps Made Easy. Granite has also hired an additional 20 new employees over the past year including web developers, UX designers, project managers and performance marketing specialists, growing its team to 80 people.
“Our latest acquisition provides us with much enhanced e-commerce skills and capabilities, as we strengthen our offerings in this area,” said Conor Buckley, CEO of Granite Digital.
“Willows Consulting brings 20 years of eCommerce expertise and deep relationships with an impressive customer base from across Ireland, the UK and further afield. We’re delighted they have joined the Granite Digital Group as we further reinforce our position as Ireland’s largest independent digital agency.
“Our digital-first mindset is driving our continued success. We expect 2022 to be stronger again as we look to accelerate our business expansion through organic growth and further strategic acquisitions.”
Founded in Dubin in 2002 by Sean Owens and Aine Williams, Willows Consulting delivers e-commerce website design and development services to companies of all sizes in Ireland, UK, US and Asia.
“We’re on a fantastic journey at Willows, delivering over 500 highly successful e-commerce projects for our customers over the past two decades,” said Sean Owens, founder of Willows Consulting.
“By joining forces with Granite, it gives us the scale and expertise to grow at pace and provide our customers with an even wider range of e-commerce and digital transformation services. We’re very excited by the opportunities that lie ahead for us.”
Main image at top: Sean Owens, co-founder of Willows Consulting, with Granite Digital managing director Conor Buckley
