3 key benefits to online fashion trade shows
Whether you are a brand or a retailer, you’ll find yourself questioning the current state of trade shows. Joining these big industry events is, of course, a great opportunity, but it can also add a lot of extra pressure and frustration for many businesses. What if you don’t have enough time to connect with the right partners? What if the brands you want to meet don’t attend? How do you calculate your return on investment?
It’s clear our aim is to improve the efficiency of your business by simplifying the way you connect and trade with your partners. We LOVE the idea of bringing partners together: we just think there is a better way to do it than flying thousands of people into a big hall — twice a year. This is why FashionTrade has been developed as an online fashion trade show solution.You can connect and trade, at any time and from anywhere. We are certainly not here to replace traditional trade shows, but we are convinced that an online trade show can bring you (at least) THREE additional benefits…
Greater reactivity
Fashion trade shows were born out of the ‘traditional fashion calendar’ dominated by 2 big seasons (Autumn-Winter and Spring-Summer). They used to be the key moments for retailers to connect with brands, discover their newest collections and place orders — a year before products would hit the stores.
But the traditional calendar has been challenged as final consumers expect to find new products on a very regular basis — not only twice a year. Fast fashion companies like Zara or H&M have understood it very quickly and have built their success on this model. Their design teams develop products all year long and are able to produce and sell products in a two-week period. Of course, not every brand wants to position itself as Zara or H&M, but there is no doubt that this approach is affecting the whole fashion industry. Last year Tommy Hilfiger and Burberry embraced the ‘see now, buy now’ concept, selling the collections shown on the catwalk during the American fashion week online and instore immediately.
In addition, it also makes sense for retailers to be more reactive and offer the most relevant products to consumers along the year. Not selling rain jackets during a rainy summer is a missed opportunity, as well as not being able to sell the latest trend because orders were placed 6 months ahead.
In this context, retailers and brands have to be increasingly flexible. FashionTrade is providing you with an online place to connect and trade on a regular basis, whenever a new need arises.
Increased efficiency
If you’ve visited a trade show as a retailer, you know just how exhausting it can be. After selecting the most relevant brands, you cross the floors to check their booths, wait to talk to the right sales representative, and ideally still have time to just walk around to get inspired. Placing orders is a very important task, as the choices you make today will affect the performance of you shop for the next year. But concentrating in such conditions can be tricky and you also miss the time to take a step back and really think strategically.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, using FashionTrade alongside your trade show visit gives you all the time you need. On our platform, retailers can:
- Browse for brands online and get inspired
- Pre-fill baskets to prepare for showroom and trade show visits
- Easily review and edit pre-selections to create the best assortment for their shop
- Place and review orders from anywhere, at anytime
Brands can use FashionTrade to:
- Present their latest collections in their own, branded, digital showroom
- Offer discounts and price variations to select partners
- Access data insights and reports to ensure the healthy growth of their business
FashionTrade is a great tool to maximise your time at trade shows and keep your business moving in between. With our mobile app, you can scan the barcodes of your favourite products at the trade shows and they’ll appear immediately in your buyer basket. No need for pens, papers and those pesky line sheets anymore!
Higher return on investment
We all know that travelling to trade shows or showrooms costs you vast time and money, potentially lowering your return on investment. In contrast, FashionTrade opens countless business opportunities, in just one click! You can reduce the number of trade show or showroom visits, thus reducing drastically your travel budget (and fatigue). FashionTrade is always free for buyers to join and we are currently also offering a free subscription for brands who join this year!
Finally, our data insights and reporting allows you to easily calculate your return on investment. You know what you are selling or buying at anytime and you can easily optimise your investment to meet your targets sooner.
To sum up:
Using FashionTrade.com as an online fashion trade show allows you to:
- Be more reactive: buy and sell products whenever you need, outside of the traditional trade show calendar that is now been challenged by consumers needs.
- Be more efficient: sell and buy wherever you want, take the time to create the best assortment and maximise face-to-face time with your partners.
- Save money: reduce your travel budget and get data insights to develop your business strategically.
