Modefabriek survey indicates strong investment on digital showrooming pre Covid-19

A survey amongst 216 exhibiting fashion companies at the ModeFabriek trade show in January 2020 was commissioned by Colect.io to gain insight into the use of digital solutions by the B2B sector and wholesale side of the business. This was weeks before markets went into lockdown and Covid-19 related restrictions were put in place across Europe.

“The overall participation and the amount of valuable insights this research delivered, exceeded our exceptions”, said Arthur Hoffman, Executive Director of Colect.io in a press release. “It clearly highlights the need and desire amongst fashion brands to invest in presenting their collections digitally and virtually, drive more efficiency via self-service, and become smarter on B2B marketing. The challenges posed by the coronavirus restrictions, and new social distancing norms, have simply further strengthened that focus and demand”.

The survey was conducted by students from the University of Amsterdam who approached 216 participants that formed a balanced representation across small, medium and large fashion companies-with the majority residing in Northern Europe (Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Denmark, Sweden and the UK).

Further, the research shows that 69 percent of most companies interviewed choose external specialised SaaS solution providers to support their digital storytelling and order writing process, as part of their back-office/ERP systems or via specialised add-ons like Colect.

Hoffman continued to state, “We see a lot of companies struggling with their own solutions, and recognising the expertise and benefit of leveraging from wider industry innovation that specialised and dedicated SaaS solution providers can bring. And nice to see Colect.io being ranked as the number one solution provider amongst these participants in terms of market share.”

When it comes to choosing such a solution provider, the overall top 3 decision criteria for fashion companies are the following: Technical expertise, Fashion Experience and Customer Service, closely followed by Price as the fourth criteria. Though the survey also highlights some local nuances, with Germans ranking Customer Service as the number one decision criterion, compared to the French and Danish who value this less. And for the Belgiums and French, fashion experience is ranked highest when it comes to selecting the right solution provider. Local presence ranked relatively low, with number seven, which indicates the fact that fashion companies simply prefer the best internationally available solution.

About Colect

Colect.io is a world-class digital and mobile SaaS solutions provider for the B2B / wholesale fashion industry, with over 400 fashion brands and 86,000 retailers worldwide using its tools on a daily basis. Colect delivers integrated scalable solutions for Digital and Mobile Sales, B2B and In-Store Sales for brands in Fashion, Footwear, Sportswear, Body Fashion and Accessories. This digital platform enables companies in the fashion sector to grow more rapidly via a more efficient exchange of product information, assortment planning, order processing, and data analysis.

Colect’s key products:

B2B Sales App-iPad app supporting Sales reps with all collection images, inventory and pricing levels at their fingertips, both online and offline for seamless order writing capabilities.

B2B Webshop-Web-based shop for both Sales staff and their clients (retailers, distributors, importers) to pre- and reorder collections or individual items.

Virtual showroom-Latest web-based innovation and part of the B2B solution to show collections via a virtual showroom, with a lookbook, collection boards and 360 images & videos.

Digital showroom-Presenting and facilitating order writing the modern way on multiple, and fully customisable flatscreen TVs, controlled by a very easy and intuitive iPad application.

In-store solution-Endless isle solution in retail allowing both consumers and retail staff an omnichannel shopping experience.

Photos: courtesy of Colect