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Direct Marketer Buys iD Factor
Online survey management and fieldwork services agency iD Factor has been bought by themutual.net (TMN), a leading UK online direct marketing company and rewarded shopping portal, in a deal worth up to £2.86m. The buy gives TMN a foothold in the fast-growing online survey market.
iD Factor was founded in 2001 and has 28 staff. Its core services include sample provision, the design and implementation of Web based surveys and data processing and tabulation, and it operates two research panels, TechTank and Home of Research.
MD Jon Gumbrell joins themutual.net's board. iD Factor will continue to operate from its offices in Richmond, Surrey and maintain its software development facilities in Sri Lanka. themutual.net owns a 6.5 million-strong database of owned and managed email names which will be added to iD Factor's research panels and databases comprising over 200,000 members.
Mark Smith, CEO at themutual.net, says 'This is a hugely exciting acquisition which opens up opportunities in the booming online market research sector, and fits neatly with our vision of making themutual.net a one-stop service for online marketers. We're delighted to add the expertise and technology of iD Factor to our group and look forward to applying TMN's additional resources to realize IDF's excellent growth potential.'
Gumbrell says the deal will allow the new company to capture 'a greater share of a rapidly growing market'. eConsultancy's 2005 report into the growth of spend on email marketing predicted a 25% increase in 2005. C.10% of the UK's estimated £1.29 billion MR turnover is now accounted for by online research, and an increase to 25% is predicted for the next 3-5 years.
For the year ended 31 March 2005, iD Factor reported net revenues of £0.75m and profit before tax of £49,000. The agency is online at www.theidfactor.com and the buyer at www.themutual.net and www.mutualpoints.com.
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