Onedirect
Multichannel distribution of professional telecom equipment
Created in France in 1999, Onedirect (www.onedirect.fr) is a company specialized in the multichannel distribution of professional telecom equipment such as corded and cordless telephones, switchboards, headsets and other accessories. Since its creation, the company demonstrated a strong capacity to develop its offer dedicated to a loyal customer base of small, medium and large businesses. In 2001, they decided to expand its business internationally. Next to the headquarters in Saint Estève (France), they now have operations in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany and the United Kingdom. Onedirect has more than 6,000 products and accessories in its catalogue. Moreover, it handled over 110,000 orders in 2015 coming from its customer base of almost 300.000 clients.
The company managed to become the leading supplier in Europe thanks to its efficient multichannel marketing and sales approach which combines national websites, the sending-out of catalogues and a large and well-trained telesales team (call center) that offers quality customer service and advice. This high quality service also translates in a strong logistics system, with over 97% of the orders dispatched the same day.
In 2010, Gimv took a majority stake in Onedirect alongside the founders and BNP Paribas Développement. The rationale behind the investment was based on the online purchase of telephone products which is a growing market segment benefitting from technological innovations and also based on a further switch to e-commerce. We supported the company in addressing these market opportunities by strengthening the management team, challenging strategic choices and accompanying them in their international expansion through the opening of the UK operations. Sales have increased from EUR 29 million in 2010 to EUR 39 million in 2015 while workforce increased with 32% to 99 people in the same period. Naxicap Partners, a French private equity player, will take over the company from Gimv and engages to accompany Onedirect in its next growth phase.