NEW YORK — Emerald Holding, Inc., which owns and organizes NY NOW, a wholesale market for retail that brings together brands, buyers and designers, announced this week it acquired Bulletin Inc., a wholesale marketplace connecting over 3,000 independent brands with more than 26,000 retailers.
The Bulletin marketplace focuses on innovative brands, including Piecework Puzzles, Apotheke, Golde, Kitsch and Brightland, and supports order management for online-only retailers like Fast AF and social shopping app Flip. Bulletin also supports an array of brick-and-mortar stores including Prelude & Dawn, Onatah General Store, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and Friends NYC, among others.
“The acquisition of Bulletin signifies a transformational next step in the evolution of the NY NOW brand and underscores Emerald’s commitment to achieving our strategic initiatives,” Hervé Sedky, Emerald’s President & CEO, said.
All Bulletin employees will join Emerald as part of the acquisition, including co-founders Alana Branston and Ali Kriegsman. Branston will take on the role of Group Vice President, Gift & Home and Kriegsman will take over the position of Vice President, Strategy, Gift & Home.
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“We developed a strong interest in Bulletin after meeting Alana and Ali, whose shared ethos of supporting and empowering independent brands and creators perfectly aligns with NY NOW’s brand mission,” Sedky said. “Merging Bulletin with NY NOW will allow us to advance these two businesses and deliver more solutions, resources and value to our collective community of customers through the union of in-person events with e-commerce offerings.”
The acquisition of Bulletin will not only offer wholesale buyers the opportunity to discover innovative brands and makers with a blend of in-person and e-commerce options, it will also introduce Bulletin’s customer base of brands and retailers to the NY NOW Gift and Home Show.
“The combination of Bulletin and NY NOW not only provides us with a dynamic platform that delivers year-round discovery and engagement, but Alana, Ali, and the Bulletin team’s thought leadership, forward-looking perspectives and extensive network of makers, designers, influencers and media will serve as new pathways of expression and creativity,” Karalynn Sprouse, EVP, Emerald, said. “In addition, this union reconfirms our unwavering commitment to NY NOW, especially as our 100th anniversary of being the preeminent resource for the Gift and Home industry grows near.”
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Bulletin CEO and Co-founder Branston also is optimistic about the merger with NY NOW.
“We see a massive opportunity to combine the efficiencies of our leading digital platform with the pure magic of an iconic in-person event,” Branston said. “During the pandemic, our industry lost a lot of its humanity despite the explosion of wholesale e-commerce and became very transaction-driven and impersonal. Because of this, it’s grown harder for brands and buyers to broker real, enduring relationships. So, we’re excited to rethink and revamp NY NOW’s format, programming, and positioning to guarantee an in-person show that puts those relationships front-and-center, underpinned by transactions.”
For more information about participating in the upcoming Summer Market to be held Aug. 14-17, 2022 at the Jacob Javits Center in New Yor, email: Amy Hornsby at NY NOW: Amy.Hornsby@emeraldx.com or Rachel Krug at Bulletin Rachel@bulletin.co
Reach Hervé Sedky at herve.sedky@emeraldx.com; Karalynn Sprouse at (323) 817 2244 or karalynn.sprouse@emeraldx.com
