JOOR says hybrid tradeshows are here to stay, retailers' sustainability focus is growing

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 9, 2021

JOOR, the digital wholesale platform, has released its end of year round-up and trend predictions for 2022 and said digital adoption among brands and retailers is continuing to accelerate.

And it thinks that even with the return of in-person markets and events, “electronic B2B commerce continues to play an important and ever increasing role in the fashion ecosystem”. This means the “hybrid model is here to stay”. 

JOOR said that “as physical events start to return, the industry does not want to lose the reach and efficiency afforded by virtual selling”. And that could certainly be seen on Thursday as the British Fashion Council confirmed that the three London Fashion Week events next year will all be hybrids.

The platform also said it has seen a “significant increase in small businesses leveraging our platform to source exciting product, streamline their wholesale process, create greater efficiencies, and drive growth”. With business increasingly turning to such solutions, the company is actually planning to launch a “new and improved Marketplace, leveraging AI-powered search technology” to make finding product easier and more efficient.

Another key trend is growth is the Asia Pacific region. It said APAC sales have tripled year-on-year and while Japan is currently the largest APAC market on JOOR (around 30% of the total), China is “in the number two position and showing the fastest growth”. APAC-based brands have been accepting almost 50% more orders and selling over 80% more products on the platform this year than in 2020. 

Interestingly too, it added that sustainability is the most clicked category across all of JOOR Passport. It’s represented 18% of clicks on all style stories across its 36 events this year. And the business is now working on providing information regarding product sustainability further upstream,” allowing retailers to use this data to inform their purchasing decisions”.