Salesforce to Buy Demandware for a Cool $2.8 Billion

With one acquisition, Salesforce

The Salesforce investor release Salesforce IoT Cloud help desk e-commerce

" Demandware is an amazing company—the global cloud leader in the multi-billion dollar digital commerce market," said Benioff. "With Demandware, Salesforce will be well positioned to deliver the future of commerce as part of our Customer Success Platform and create yet another billion dollar cloud."

Founded in 2004, the start-up raised more than $54 million in venture capital (VC) before going public in 2012. Demandware's e-commerce platform, which counts global retailers like Adidas, Brooks Brothers, and L'Oreal as customers, is targeted toward designing personalized consumer experiences incorporating web, mobile, and store-based experiences with social media integration. The cloud platform rolls digital products and sales, brick-and-mortar store operations, and point-of-sale

The acquisition is significant not just monetarily, and not just in giving Salesforce access to a leading e-commerce platform and a customer base of global brands. The deal also unifies more processes for businesses, integrating CRM customer data, marketing, and analytics into digital commerce and putting Salesforce head-to-head with the likes of Amazon and Shopify

"Becoming part of Salesforce will accelerate our vision to empower the world's leading brands with the most innovative digital commerce solutions that enable them to connect 1:1 with customers across any channel," Demandware CEO Tom Ebling said in a statement.

Salesforce is paying $75 per share in the cash deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter of Salesforce's fiscal year (FY) 2017, ending July 31, 2016 .

This article originally appeared PCMag.com