Joint Venture with LFL
JV #
The journey of running an agency is an uphill one for sure. It takes everyone working together across the board, to not only keep the machine oiled and running, but to also produce dependable products to be proud of, and something dependable for the clients that use it. Its taken years of hard work to get to the place we are today, from everyone involved. Truly a great team and partners.
Myself, Erik, and Riz of Little Rocket, are excited for our company’s future…
This morning, LFL Group, who is comprised of the largest retailers in Canada… companies such as Leon’s Furniture, The Brick, Furniture.ca, and others — also a fantastic long term client of ours for years, has announced a Joint Venture with us!
This is a great milestone not only for my personal goals, but business as well.
We started out almost a decade ago as a couple of fellas crammed into a small noisy cubical space in downtown Toronto, in midst of a growingly competitive market, with brick and mortar clients; we grew in size, restructured our ways, reorganized our methods, fine tuned our setup; survived through not only the regular struggles, but during covid as well when many of our clients had to shut down and pause services. We made it through, and lifted up. Its been an indescribable great experience to be a part of what Little Rocket has grown to become today.
This partnership will bolster growth/reach on both sides and gives us the ability to do continue doing what we do best - craft dependable solutions and products for our clients’ needs, and our new partners, LFL. LFL & Little Rocket 🚀
Releases from both sides:
The remainder of this post is the press release published by LFL.
Press Release #
From LFL’s corporate website on November 15th, 2022:
Joint venture with Little Rocket Inc. will focus on designing and implementing commercial solutions at the nexus of ecommerce and bricks and mortar, to power consumer-centric shopping experiences
TORONTO, Nov. 15, 2022 /CNW/ - Leon’s Furniture Limited (“LFL” or the “Company”) (TSX: LNF) today announced that it has entered into a joint venture (the “JV”) with leading Toronto-based agency Little Rocket Inc. (“Little Rocket”). The JV will bring Little Rocket’s experience together with LFL’s deep understanding of retail and omnichannel, to offer innovative commercial solutions that bridge ecommerce with bricks and mortar, for North American clients. Little Rocket specializes in ecommerce implementation and product development, and is a noted Shopify® Plus partner with over a decade of experience launching solutions on the Shopify® platform. The JV will be owned 50% by LFL and 50% by Little Rocket; it is expected to close in Q1 2023 and LFL will retain the option to purchase Little Rocket’s share in the JV.
Management Commentary
Constantine Pefanis, Chief Financial Officer of LFL commented, “Little Rocket has been instrumental in helping us build an omnichannel offering that gives our customers across the country a seamless experience whether they walk into one of our stores or begin that relationship with us online. We look forward to building a deeper partnership with Erik and his team. This JV will ensure we have access to top talent as our omnichannel offering continues to evolve and we seek to consistently meet our customers where, when and how they want to shop. We also see a significant opportunity to leverage the strengths of both organizations to build a premier digital agency focused on bringing best-in-class solutions to clients across multiple industry sectors.”
Erik Christensen, Founder, Little Rocket, added, “Over the past four years, we have worked closely with the teams across the LFL organization to implement and maintain the Company’s current ecommerce platforms. LFL has an innovation and customer-focused culture that perfectly aligns with Little Rocket’s philosophy, and this is a natural partnership that will strengthen our ability to provide creative solutions in the space. Both companies see the need of continuing the advance into new areas and experiences where commerce channels intersect in the digital space. With our combined strengths and mutual experience, we have laid the foundation to build a leadership position in ecommerce and omnichannel solutions.”
Little Rocket was founded in 2007 in Toronto, Ontario. The company specializes in ecommerce implementation and product development, and is a noted Shopify® Plus partner with over a decade of experience launching solutions on the Shopify® platform. In addition to LFL, Little Rocket has worked with some of North America’s most innovative organizations, from top-tier B2C brands, technology companies and leading merchants in the B2B space, along with a wide range of clients in the regulated industries space.
About Leon’s Furniture Limited
Leon’s Furniture Limited is the largest retailer of furniture, appliances and electronics in Canada. Our retail banners include: Leon’s; The Brick; Brick Outlet; and The Brick Mattress Store. Finally, with The Brick’s Midnorthern Appliance banner and the Leon’s Appliance Canada banner, this makes the Company the country’s largest commercial retailer of appliances to builders, developers, hotels and property management companies. The Company has 305 retail stores from coast to coast in Canada under various banners. The Company operates five websites: leons.ca, thebrick.com, furniture.ca, midnorthern.com and appliancecanada.com.