2023 is almost here! This means fresh initiatives and opportunities to advance your wholesale B2B channels, strengthen existing relationships with retailers, and open new doors. There are some exciting trends emerging across the B2B landscape, including rethinking how a B2B system can function, incorporating micro-influencer marketing into the B2B experience, and offering augmented-reality experiences to buyers.

Trend #1: Make It More like B2C

This isn鈥檛 a new trend, but it鈥檚 even more relevant now. The drive to make your B2B act more like your B2C is still a key priority for brands.

Why? It鈥檚 what your retailers are expecting.

This means making sure your wholesale B2B platform meets expectations in tooling and functionality. Specifically, you need:

• Shopping-cart functionality
• A fully shoppable platform
• A 24/7 self-service portal
• Easy follow-ups on abandoned carts and unfinished orders

As more and more Millennials and Gen Z鈥檈rs become retail buyers, it鈥檚 critical to realize they don鈥檛 want to be sold to鈥攖hey want to be engaged with a genuine experience, driven by personalized content and shared values. These buyers are digital natives, and they expect the B2B experience they have at work to mirror the B2C experience they have at home. 鈥淲e have the best widget for the best price鈥� isn鈥檛 enough anymore, and the new buyers will move on to brands that offer the experience they want.聽

The key pieces of functionality you need to deliver a more engaging experience to the digital natives in your platform are:

• Access to data, analytics, and insights
• Strong segmentation tools and ways to deliver personalized experiences
• A powerful digital or virtual showroom

Trend #2: Influencer Marketing + User Generated Content

As consumers ourselves, we run into influencers and user-generated content (UGC) daily. Whether it鈥檚 someone in our personal social feed recommending a product, or a social network鈥檚 algorithm delivering influencer content relevant to our known interests, or a peer inviting us into a new digital community, it鈥檚 how business is getting done.

While you can鈥檛 put those same algorithmic tools into your wholesale B2B platform (because it isn鈥檛 a social network), you can still harness the power of influencer marketing and UGC inside your B2B. Modern buyers are looking for more-personal experiences, and they鈥檙e placing more weight on a brand鈥檚 reputation and values than ever before.聽

Fortunately, this increase in attention to influencer marketing comes with a focus on micro-influencers. that niche influencers have the highest engagement rate across all platforms. You can take this knowledge and apply it to your B2B platform by tapping into key reps and retailers across your B2B landscape.

As you build out your digital showrooms and retailer experiences, you should work with your reps, superusers, retailers, and channel partners as micro-influencers to generate testimonial content in the form of quotes, recommendations, videos, or whatever else you can collaborate on. Fortunately, since your digital B2B experiences are handcrafted, you can curate this content to harness the power of influencer marketing and UGC as a way to create trust and drive growth, without having to rely on the whims of an algorithm.

Trend #3: Augmented Reality and 3D Models Are Changing the Face of B2B

As reported by , there were almost 600 million active AR devices in 2020, and that number is expected to hit 1.73 billion by 2024. It has become clear that augmented reality is more than just a quick fix for supply-chain and pandemic issues鈥攊t鈥檚 here to stay.

Amazon has an for shoes in its B2C marketing. And once again, as we continue to see buyers push for B2B platforms that deliver a B2C-like experience, the demand for AR inside B2B is rising. Wolverine Worldwide recently built virtual experiences and delivered augmented-reality showrooms to its buyers at its global sales conference in 2022.

3D Model Produced by

This is an especially powerful trend to jump on as brands continue to find it difficult to provide samples amid supply-chain issues. Reps and retailers can use AR technology to interact with a product and get as close to the real thing as possible. Inside of your B2B, augmented reality and digital 3D models can enhance your showroom and buying experiences, creating new ways to merchandise directly on store shelves and improving education for retailers.

. This drops cost and affords your brand complete flexibility in creating additional content on demand during the season to easily support several channels with content.

Don鈥檛 Forget Your B2B Fundamentals

As you move into 2023, it will be critical to remember to stick to your fundamentals along with all these new technologies and trends. Part of the reason we are seeing greater demand for B2C-like experiences, and why tapping into your user base for content and shared experiences will work, is because retailers still want that 肠辞苍苍别肠迟颈辞苍.听

Trends in wholesale B2B strategies enable brands to find ways to engage with people, conduct more business, and generate greater success. But it can be easy to lean into them too much and lose that essential human connection that retailers crave.聽

Every interaction users have inside your B2B should be an engaging, personal experience that adds value. Envoy B2B delivers the tools to harness these upcoming 2023 B2B trends, while still creating opportunities for you to interact with and support your retailers.

Get in touch to learn more about why our obsession is helping retailers fall in love with your brand, and how we can get your brand鈥檚 B2B up to speed on the latest trends.

聽is a wholesale content and e-commerce platform for your entire team. Our tools and services are designed to help you create dynamic content, increase your speed of sale, and bring you closer to your retailers. Envoy B2B provides the technology you need to empower your team and support your retail channel. Envoy currently works with great clients like Ducati, Lems footwear, Howler Brothers, Gogglesoc, Green Lines, Keds, Merrell, Hush Puppies, Cat Footwear, Chaco, Saucony, Oofos, Topo Designs, Joules, and more.

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For most brands, a wholesale e-commerce platform is an essential component of running their B2B channel. It鈥檚 the best way to manage seasons, handle orders, empower reps, and build relationships with retailers. And this is how many brands approach their B2B platform 鈥� like a series of tools.

But, a modern B2B platform does so much more. Smart brands are harnessing the power of their B2B to directly benefit their top and bottom lines, and improve their revenue.

Grow Your Top Line

There are two ways a B2B platform should be helping you grow your top line: Enabling you to sell more products, and adding doors.

Sell More With Modern Tools

A good B2B will combine both content and commerce features seamlessly, so that retailers can get educated and build smarter orders, wherever they are in the platform.

Content experiences (like Envoy B2B鈥檚 ) should be the primary landing spot for retailers when they log in. It鈥檚 a digital destination for content education, promotions, your brand story, and anything else you need to communicate to your retailers.

These destinations are crucial because retailers sell more of what they know. Engaging聽 retailers with compelling educational content and product knowledge creates brand evangelists on the show floor. That directly translates to growing your sales and increasing your top line.

You can also increase your revenue by adopting a B2B with tools to run targeted campaigns right inside the platform.

You鈥檒l need a B2B that delivers solid insights and activity data in addition to campaigning tools. These analytics are what you鈥檒l use to build assortment-based campaigns that can be tailored to specific retailer needs, and delivered to as many retailers as needed.聽

These campaigns, in tandem with your educational content, create opportunities for retailers to immediately capitalize on and convert content from their digital experiences into an order. That means your B2B is smoothing out the path from initial engagement to order submissions, and taking the burden of building that order 鈥渂y hand鈥� off the retailer.聽 The combination of education and campaign assortments shortens the time to order placement, and eliminates multiple points of failure in the order process. This means more revenue in your top line.

Here鈥檚 a critical piece of how the right B2B can grow your top line. Make sure buyers can self-serve inside your platform.

First, retailers need access to real-time inventory data. This is not a given in every B2B platform, so make sure you choose one that has this functionality. Second, deliver detailed product images, visualization tools, as well as access to order status. Finally, make sure the entire platform is 100% shoppable so retailers can build orders from anywhere inside your B2B platform.

If your B2B is delivering all these features, then retailers are fully equipped to handle ordering on their own, 24/7.

More Doors

The second way your B2B can increase your top line is by enabling your brand with tools that make it easier to , and creating a relationship with your brand.

You want a B2B that gets rid of the typical barriers that keep new retailers from easily checking out your brand. That means a platform that allows potential new retailers access to interactive experiences, catalogs, and the ability to connect with reps 鈥� without having to go through the process of registering, getting permissions, and setting up an account.

The idea is to onboard accounts and get them in the platform quickly and easily, with the option to make it more official once they鈥檙e building that first order. More accounts means more revenue for your top line.

Shrink Your Bottom Line

On the flipside of the revenue coin we鈥檝e got your bottom line. A modern B2B will have a positive impact here through efficiency and by reducing the time to receive payment.

Standardize It

Too many brands are losing revenue by dedicating endless hours to hand-keying in orders. It鈥檚 inefficient, prone to errors, and takes far too long.

Modern B2B systems provide an right inside the platform which is the same for every account. That standardized experience cuts down on time spent for your team, and reduces errors dramatically. And that鈥檚 immediately better for a brand鈥檚 bottom line.

Moving Past Terms

The payment options inside your B2B platform can also improve your revenue by reducing your bottom line. It鈥檚 risky to carry unreliable accounts or add new ones outside of term agreements.

That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 important you have a pay now function in your brand鈥檚 B2B.

This enables you to be flexible and sell to different types of customers, while reducing the risk on your future catalog. Unstable accounts can even be moved into a solution involving immediate payment for orders, preserving the relationship while keeping your bottom line low.

Improve Your Revenue with a Better B2B

Despite the challenges of the last few years, many retailers are reporting tremendous growth right now. . Your brand needs to tap into this moment and build strong relationships with your retailers. But, more importantly, you need to build these relationships with smart digital tools that provide more than just logistics and functionality, but actively grow your revenue.

Want to learn more about how Envoy B2B can make that happen? .

is a wholesale content and e-commerce platform for your entire team. Our tools and services are designed to help you create dynamic content, increase your speed of sale, and bring you closer to your retailers. Envoy B2B provides the technology you need to empower your team and support your retail channel. Envoy currently works with great clients like Ducati, Lems footwear, Howler Brothers, Gogglesoc, Green Lines, Keds, Merrell, Hush Puppies, Cat Footwear, Chaco, Saucony, Oofos, Topo Designs, Joules, and more.

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In our most recent at Envoy B2B, we asked shop owners how they manage and organize all the brand assets they receive. Sixty percent of them said they use browser bookmarks. A few respondents said they use a combination of email, spreadsheets peppered with links, and local folders on their computers. More than 20 percent said they don鈥檛 have an organizational method at all.

We were shocked. But also, we get it. Running a store is hard work, and there isn鈥檛 a lot of time to sit in front of a computer and organize the flow of assets from countless brands. We know retailers are working with a huge number of brands鈥攕ometimes upwards of 100. That makes for a seemingly endless flow of marketing assets, educational materials, order forms, line sheets, workbooks, and more.

Wouldn鈥檛 it be nice if someone organized all that stuff for you?

Luckily, we鈥檙e ready with a solution. Envoy B2B is excited to announce the upcoming launch of , a new way for retailers to stay on top of everything they need to run their businesses well.

Introducing BrandKeep

BrandKeep is where retailers organize. We created it specifically to help retail owners and buyers manage all their vendor assets, so that the heart of their work鈥攔unning a store鈥攊s easy and efficient. It鈥檚 built to seamlessly collect information from multiple locations and put those essentials into a retail-centric format that empowers your entire team. Retailers can use BrandKeep to store workbooks, contacts, important links, order forms, invoices, terms, and more in one central workspace.

Store owners can also use BrandKeep to collaboratively visualize their business, get their whole team on the same page, and ensure all brands assets are easily accessible. Buyers will be able to rest easy knowing all their materials, notes, and deadlines are in a uniform, standard format so they can focus on growing their existing brand relationships and minimize the work it takes to bring on new ones.

But it鈥檚 more than just a place to get organized. BrandKeep also includes tools for task management; collects assets from Dropbox, Google Drive, and emails; offers one terabyte of file storage; and has extensive search capabilities. We built this platform with real-world feedback and input from retailers just like you, so you can be sure its features are field-tested and effective.

鈥淓verything we do revolves around ensuring specialty retail owners and buyers have a place to succeed,” says Jon Faber, founder and CEO of Envoy B2B. “We designed BrandKeep as a way to solve the very real challenge of staying organized, and built it based on input from real retailers. From achieving operational bliss, to fostering collaborative partnerships, to creating a space for exceptional experiences, retailers can trust that our goal with BrandKeep is to offer a solution that propels their team forward. Everybody wants to have fun running a successful store and building community. We’re providing a system to take the burden off your plate and make it easy.鈥�

Coming Soon

BrandKeep’s launch window is targeted for the end of this summer. We invite all specialty retail owners and buyers to dive into the platform, get organized, and start boosting their productivity for free. and be the first to know when BrandKeep is available to you.

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We鈥檝e all been curious about what impact the last few years will have on industry trade shows. Will they still exist post-pandemic, and if so, will they still be relevant? Will they maintain the same format? Will people attend?

The outdoor industry faced many challenges brought on by COVID-19 and has emerged largely successful on the other side. Brands and retailers adjusted to virtual events, worked with digital sales tools, and overcame a variety of impactful issues. But now, in-person business is happening again, and we are starting to see how trade shows have changed.

We sat down with Nate Clark, national sales manager at Rumpl, and Patrick O鈥橬eil, Rumpl鈥檚 vice president of revenue, to discuss the relevance of trade shows, talk about their value, and review how Envoy B2B helps to make them a more successful experience.

Are Trade Shows Still Relevant?

The question of relevancy is central to the trade show debate. Do we truly need them to do business in the modern age? At Envoy B2B, we believe that, yes, trade shows are still 100 percent relevant to the way we all work. However, some of them might look a little different moving forward.

The big shows like Outdoor Retailer (OR), some say, have shifted away from the traditional buying format to a simpler marketing opportunity for brands. These national shows have become an opportunity to showcase goods to the press, a chance for brands to generate interest, and, if they鈥檙e well run, a place for retailers to find a few fresh lines to carry.

O鈥橬eil summed it up nicely: 鈥淲e鈥檙e making a brand statement at Outdoor Retailer. Our presence there is set up for PR; we鈥檙e not setting up for sales. We hardly even have a table for writing orders. Then you look at smaller shows put on by Grassroots Outdoor Alliance or Western Winter Sports Representatives Association鈥攖hose are business shows. You鈥檙e there to do business.鈥�

It鈥檚 those regional shows where many retailers get work done. 鈥淚 generally operate under the assumption that reps are going to go where the revenue is coming from,鈥� said Clark. 鈥淲e had two rep agencies at OR, and the retailers just weren鈥檛 there for our reps to be doing business. So yes, we鈥檙e seeing a movement towards more local shows from the retail side of things.鈥�

In today’s market, buyers want to show up, write as many orders as they can, and head home. For them, it鈥檚 all about efficiency. And the in-person experience available at regional shows helps make that happen. Virtual experiences or the big national shows just can鈥檛 match what happens at the regional level.

鈥淲e鈥檝e all proven we can do the business digitally. We did that for two years, and we did it very, very well. We formed a lot of relationships,” Clark said. “But that in-person experience is still important鈥攎aybe more so now than it was before COVID. And we believe that, for the retailers, the most important business is happening at the regional shows.鈥�

Envoy B2B Improves the Experience

That said, even though retailers can still use trade shows to be productive, certain tools make the experience better than others. Gone are the days of paper order sheets. Envoy B2B facilitates buying experiences in the digital age, so retailers can get in, get out, and get back to their stores.

鈥淲e had a couple of buyers that couldn鈥檛 make it to our meetings because no one else was able to close their shop at night,” said O鈥橬eil. “It鈥檚 really hard for buyers to get away from their stores. The smaller regional shows like GOA are about doing business, and Envoy B2B allows efficiency in that process. It reduces the friction for retailers that are under pressure.鈥�

Brands use Envoy B2B to head into meetings prepped and ready for their retailers. 鈥淲e鈥檒l go into meetings with a pre-set assortment because we鈥檝e done our homework,鈥� Clark said. 鈥淎 lot of times we don鈥檛 have sell-through data for specialty accounts, but Envoy B2B allows us to go into those meetings prepared with an assortment, and then we can have a back-and-forth as we put together a solid order.鈥�

Clark further explained how his company uses Envoy B2B at trade shows to drive efficiency and serve retailers’ needs: 鈥淲e will actually pull up Envoy B2B, write an order right there, and connect the dots for accounts on the spot. It鈥檚 a really efficient way to get orders written, because we all know that once the retailer goes back home, 鈥榬etail happens.鈥� So Envoy B2B is a really effective tool to be able to facilitate that efficiency for retailers, and ensure the orders are written and placed for us.鈥�

Different Shows, Different Intents

So, to sum up: the trade show isn鈥檛 dead. In fact, it鈥檚 more important than ever. For brands, having a solid handle on your business goals will determine what shows are most valuable for you. If you鈥檙e looking to attract interest, connect with your peers, to grow brand-to-brand relationships, the big shows like OR are the place to be. If you want to go where the retailers are, write orders, and build the next season, you鈥檒l need to prioritize the smaller, regional shows where business gets done.

鈥淲e鈥檙e using fewer line sheets than ever before at the small shows,” said Clark. “Everyone has their laptop out, and we’re all logged into Envoy B2B. We actively use Envoy at those smaller shows where the intent is to do business.鈥�

Want to learn more about how Envoy B2B can support your retailers and create better experiences at trade shows? , and we’d be happy to chat.

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If your brand wants to deliver premium services to their retail partners, modern digital cataloging and merchandising tools are crucial. Retailers still have a strong desire to touch and feel products with face-to-face interactions. However, the changes our industry has faced over the last few years have highlighted the indispensable value of a hybrid B2B sales model. Hybrid models are flexible, allowing for timely interactions, rapid responses during times of collaboration, and more relevant experiences for your retailers.

This kind of premium experience can only be delivered through your wholesale B2B e-commerce platform. It鈥檚 the destination your retailers use every day. It connects them with your brand, delivers education, provides order tools, and delivers the experience that helps build a loyal community.

Brands that harness their B2B鈥檚 digital tools to support the collaborative merchandising step of the buying process benefit from deeper collaboration, and a smarter, more process-forward buying journey. Additionally, those brands will be working uniformly across all their retail partners, regardless of whether the experience is in-person or through the use of digital tools like Envoy B2B. That uniformity of experience pays dividends in time saved, with less mistakes, and greater engagement鈥攁ll of which lead to growth.

Using Digital Catalogs and Visual Merchandising at the Buying Table

Before meeting with your retailers, it鈥檚 important to set your team up for success. They鈥檒l need access to a flexible digital catalog, and a workbook of your seasonal story and product offering. Building these digital catalogs inside your B2B keeps the messaging on brand, and gives your reps an easy way to offer a dynamic, always up-to-date catalog of products for their accounts. And, it鈥檚 all shopable in-platform or delivered as a PDF.

Management and Distribution: Getting Digital Catalogs to Your Rep Force

• Envoy B2B feature鈥擯age Template Builder: The Envoy B2B Page Template Builder can be used by admins to author digital catalog PDFs aligned with your messaging. Offering digital catalogs in this format is critical. It鈥檚 the deliverable your retailers expect to receive before meeting with your brand to collaborate and place their buy.

• Assortment workbook templates: Assortment Templates deliver a starting point for your reps to create a personal workbook experience. This experience will see heavy use at this stage of the buying process. Reps will be able to put all relevant product information in one place, allowing them to easily deliver presentations and focus the meeting. Additionally, retailers can also access this information during and after the meeting, for consistent messaging.

Preparation, Personalization, and Delivery

• Envoy B2B feature鈥擜ssortment Campaigns: Now it鈥檚 time for your reps to share that personalized assortment workbook they鈥檝e created. When shared within Envoy B2B, reps can see their account鈥檚 activity and interaction with each assortment. This provides a clear view into the level of engagement and knowledge they can expect as they head into the collaborative order process.

The Meeting: In-Person or Virtual Real-Time Meeting

• Envoy B2B feature鈥擜ssortment Experience: The workbook that was distributed to each account before the meeting is the same one your reps will use when in-person. Your retailer may have also downloaded a PDF version to use during the meeting. Having retailers download the PDF ahead of time is helpful, and should be encouraged.聽
  During the meeting, the 鈥淟earn鈥� section of the workbook will be used to pitch the brand and key stories. Reps can walk through what products are available and show what is being considered for the buy in the 鈥淰iew Product鈥� section. Lastly, the 鈥淢erchandise鈥� section can actively show the selection of products that are being curated into an assortment. And the best part is, any changes made during the meeting are reflected and available for the retailer, regardless of if they choose to work directly in the platform or download the PDF.

• Envoy B2B feature鈥擟heckMate experience: Your brand can leverage our integration with CheckMate alongside the Assortment Workbook. This integration enables 3D models of your products to be used in a virtual Showroom while merchandising. The resulting assortment selections can then easily be made available in Envoy B2B for further assortment building and ordering. This experience can be made available for your retailers to use on their own, or it can be used within the meeting as another engaging experience.

The Role of Visually Merchandising the Buy

• Envoy B2B feature鈥攐rdering and visualization: A few brands will jump right to this step, sharing an order with merchandised shipments. Some brands will end the meeting prior to this step, giving the retailer a chance to construct their own order, based on the collaborative experience that occurred during the meeting. Both ways work. Only your brand can determine the best path. It will likely vary from account to account. In cases where assortment workbooks are used, it鈥檚 a simple process to transition the resulting assortment into an order with multiple shipments for the season.聽Assortment workbooks can easily become the basis for creating a pre-season order, and orders can have each shipment visually merchandised.

By focusing on just a part of the seasonal buyer’s journey, we can see the critical value these digital tools provide. It鈥檚 easy to understand the impact they have as your brand works to support your retailers and grow your wholesale revenue. That means relying on your B2B鈥攊n combination with your reps鈥攖o deliver meaningful interactions with retailers at every stage of the buying process.

Digital catalogs and merchandising tools have earned their place at the buying table. It鈥檚 up to brands to get on board and use them effectively if they want to support their retail partners and grow their bottom line. Envoy B2B can help.

The post How to Energize Your Retailers with a Premium Experience at the Buying Table appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

What鈥檚 one of the biggest challenges faced by specialty retailers? If you said the inability to see a brand鈥檚 inventory in real time, you鈥檙e right.

In a recent survey, . That鈥檚 a shockingly low number. Nearly half of the brands out there don鈥檛 provide their retail partners with inventory numbers during the ordering process.

Interestingly, . Imagine how much more successful those retailers could be if brands delivered easy access to inventory data. Retailers could then pivot around the hurdles they鈥檙e facing to operate their stores in these tumultuous times, while keeping customers informed of timelines and alternative products.

While lack of inventory numbers is a problem, it also compounds other challenges.

Easing Supply Chain Pressure For Your Retailers

It鈥檚 likely that your brand has been affected by supply chain issues and you鈥檙e looking for ways to alleviate the problem. It鈥檚 clear that it鈥檚 going to take time to get production and distribution back up to speed, but in the meantime, brands need to take action and find a way to manage the issue. Seasons don鈥檛 stop, and retailers still need products.

Production issues may be out of your control, but you can deliver accurate inventory levels, along with actionable data, right in your B2B. This information will give your retail buyers a firm understanding of what鈥檚 available. It will also help them understand shipping times, and provide the knowledge they need to pivot around delayed products.

Stock Your Shelves

There鈥檚 a ripple effect that happens as a result of keeping inventory hidden from retailers. Your brand needs to keep the shelves stocked, just like a store. Retailers can鈥檛 order products they can鈥檛 see, and if they鈥檙e unsure of what鈥檚 available they鈥檒l place smaller, more cautious orders.

Making it easy for retailers to see real-time inventory will likely yield an immediate improvement on your season. Increased replenishment orders for improved sell-through and more successful retailers combine to grow the positive impact each season has on your brand. It鈥檚 a simple equation. Inventory visibility leads to better replenishment and stronger seasons.

Your B2B Is The Solution

For many retailers, the process of checking available inventory is time consuming. Reaching out to a rep with a call or email, and then waiting to hear back, causes lag. Too much lag means the numbers aren鈥檛 wholly reliable, and it slows down the entire replenishment process.

If emails and phone calls aren鈥檛 the right way to give your retailers access to inventory numbers, then what is? Your brand should surface inventory numbers right inside your B2B platform.

. This is how to get the job done. Putting inventory in the place your retailers already frequent for education and orders.

If you support your specialty retail partners with easy access to real-time inventory, right in your B2B, they鈥檒l be able to sidestep some of the unexpected challenges of a crippled supply chain and the hurdles in front of them caused by the pandemic. That means continued growth for them, and a stronger season for your brand.

The post When It Comes to Your Inventory, Many Retailers Are Blind appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Retailers have faced many challenges over the past year. Supply chain problems have highlighted inventory visibility issues. Digital experiences created new engagement challenges as retailers worked to find ways to connect with brands and their products. An increase in B2B platform proliferation led to confusion and an overwhelming process. All these factors combined to put retailers on the back foot when trying to manage their stores.

Fortunately, these challenges didn鈥檛 keep retailers down. The majority of them grew due to supportive brand partners, loyal customers, and a widening consumer base. People are eager to return to pre-COVID buying habits and engage with mainstreet retailers. Customers also expressed an increased interest in getting outside and getting active鈥攁nd that鈥檚 driving them to stores.

Retailers are gravitating towards brands with great products and supportive reps. And the brands that field enabled reps will continue to win store loyalty. With 83 percent of the retailers reporting that they saw growth in the past year, brands should take notice of retailer pain points and work to alleviate those difficulties. Because it鈥檚 clear that despite continuing COVID challenges, specialty retail is growing. And a supportive relationship with each retailer is the fuel.

Challenge No. 1: Replenishment of Product and Visibility to Future Availability

Scarcity of product has left retailers without products on the shelf. One of the key actionable takeaways here is that 45 percent of retailers can鈥檛 see what their brands have in stock.

Communicating inventory in real time is the most effective method brands have of supporting their retailers. And 83 percent of the retailers surveyed said that a B2B platform is the most effective method of delivering a window into accurate inventory.

Challenge No. 2:聽 Building on a Genuine New-Brand Opportunity, Primarily Through Digital Platforms with a Secondary In-Person Experience

Trade show attendance is flagging, and retailers have had to rely on digital interactions with brands to replace shows as a stopgap solution. As you鈥檒l see in our report, retailers aren鈥檛 in love with video conferencing. However, some brands have found ways to create successful conferencing experiences and connect with retailers. Thirty percent of the retailers surveyed said they had successful experiences when video conferencing for a line showing, citing the efficiency and focused nature of the experience.

Brands have some work to do in order to deliver more compelling experiences. They will need to support reps with training and digital experiences that make the best use of the medium.

Challenge No. 3: Platform Proliferation Has Resulted in a Fragmented and Complex Online Experience for Retailers

Over the last year, retailers have had to grapple with new technologies and largely untested digital experiences. Combine this with a landscape already littered with B2B models separated across brands, and it becomes clear that retailers are having to manage a multitude of digital platforms to manage their stores.

Retailers routinely have to work across more than 25 B2B platforms on a weekly basis.

Brands need to work to keep it clean, for their retailers鈥� sake. Retailers are currently spread across too many digital experiences, and they鈥檙e stuck having to keep assets organized on their own. Brands have to deliver all of their assets, including marketing materials, educational experiences, and selling tools in one place. This takes the burden of responsibility off their retailers so they can focus on selling the product.

While these challenges are real, and need to be addressed by brands looking to support their wholesale channels, there鈥檚 a bright spot in all of this. Eighty-three percent of the retailers surveyed experienced growth in 2021, and are looking to expand their portfolio of brands.

Specialty retail is alive and well, despite these challenges. With that level of growth, brands have an opportunity to deliver stronger support through increased inventory visibility, better digital experiences for sell-in, and a single destination for all brand-retailer interactions.

for more data, breakdowns, and stories from retailers in their own words. Then take a look at how your B2B tools stack up against retailers’ needs.

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Digital experiences are here to stay. As we collectively worked through the disruptions of the last few years, new methods and workflows emerged that take advantage of the digital tools brands can access. Naturally, this pushed the application of those tools into new spaces, and a hybrid selling model emerged. This model harnesses the power of the virtual tools found in your brand鈥檚 B2B to enhance both in-person and virtual meetings between a rep and a retailer. It also facilitates asymmetrical collaboration when real-time human interaction isn鈥檛 possible.

In this hybrid model, Envoy B2B becomes the meeting place for reps and retailers as they navigate the season, have meaningful interactions during the buying process, review workbooks, and build a buy together.

Different stages of the buying process demand different levels of human interaction. A platform like Envoy B2B will always have a place at the table, virtually or in-person, because it enhances the ability of reps and retailers to work together and dial in a strong buy.

However, when collaborating virtually during sell-in, it is crucial for reps to provide retailers with the correct digital resources to learn about your brand and products. Your B2B platform is the destination for those resources, enabling reps to tap into the power of your B2B and help retailers find success. Additionally, providing your reps with pre-built assortment experiences and the tools to customize them for their accounts will support them in supporting your retailers.

Create Flexible Digital Workbooks Using Assortments

A template builder, like the one found in Envoy B2B, allows your marketing team to design custom layouts that reps can rely on to easily create a PDF workbook from any assortment. This workbook will align with the look and feel of your brand, as directed by the marketing team. It keeps the brand story consistent across all retailers while still being flexible enough that reps can customize it for their accounts.

Providing the Right Assets

This is a simple but essential step. Upload product images, videos, and 3D models to your B2B platform for reps to use when creating assortment experiences. These additional assets can be used to further customize each assortment to individual accounts. Retailers love getting hands-on with the actual products, but sometimes that isn鈥檛 feasible. Giving reps access to these digital images, videos, and 3D models is the next best thing.

Distribute Pre-Built Assortments to Reps

While product assortments can be simple line sheet PDFs created by reps, you can also pre-build an assortment experience. This ready-made assortment delivers an elevated experience that is on-brand. Reps can further customize it to meet the needs of each of their accounts.聽

Envoy B2B offers a brand the ability to pre-build an assortment with a custom selection of products, a presentation experience to introduce your brand and products, and a visually merchandised whiteboard with a cart you can preload with products for strong consideration.

These pre-made assortment experiences can be distributed to reps when they鈥檙e workbooking with their retailers. They鈥檒l have an easier way to campaign an assortment to their retailers, and the marketing team knows that the story and messaging is controlled and consistent across the season.

As an added benefit, a campaigned assortment is a two-way conversation. As reps and retailers edit, make notes, and line plan together, the site is updated in real-time without forcing the participants to bounce around between different tools. And the final merchandised assortment can be converted to a digital order with a single click.聽

Setting up Reps for Success

Workbooks are a key piece of your rep鈥檚 toolkit as they support retailers throughout the season. It鈥檚 critical to put the correct tools, assets, and pre-built experiences in those reps’ hands, allowing them to focus their efforts on supporting retailers throughout the buying process. As we鈥檝e learned, change comes quick, and Envoy B2B鈥檚 merchandising tools, template builders, and assortment experiences ensure your reps are ready for anything and can create seasons that grow with their retailers.

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If your brand has both a considerable wholesale operation and a growing direct-to-consumer (DTC) business, it鈥檚 critical to communicate your story strategically across your different channels with good content. That means producing the right assets for each channel during different stages of your go-to-market strategy. Doing this well is vital to growth. But it鈥檚 not always easy.

Choosing the Right Content Production Strategy

As brands have wrestled with the best approach to this problem, two content strategies have emerged: specialized and adaptive.

A specialized approach delivers a more highly tuned and elevated experience across each stage of the season. For example, during the creation of sell-in imagery, a specialized production strategy will produce a high-end 鈥渉ero鈥� shot that has been uniquely prepped and styled to tell that product鈥檚 story.

By contrast, an adaptive content production strategy will value flexibility over rigid style parameters. That might mean creating product assets derived from 3D models. The upside to this approach would be that it allows for endless frame and lighting permutations in post-production.

Different stages of the season have different demands. Being flexible enough to adapt to the current stage of the season means harnessing the benefits of both an adaptive and specialized approach. But what do these different approaches look like during the production cycle for a typical season, and which stage requires which strategy?

Stage One: Forecasting

At this stage, the physical product is a hot commodity. With all departments clamoring for the product, the demand is high. The challenge here is simply getting the product in front of the camera long enough to capture it. A specialized approach here allows a photography team to capture a fast deliverable鈥攁 few angles on white鈥攖hat can be used in forecasting.

Trying to push for anything more at this stage slows down production for needed deliverables and plugs up the entire go-to-market pipeline. Moreover, it鈥檚 likely that a product at this stage of the season will go through dramatic changes, so shooting for a simple standard means rapid turnarounds and smooth production.

Specialized Forecasting Solution: Two-Frame E-Commerce Shots

A hero shot and a feature shot on white, with a clipping path, gets the job done. It鈥檚 a quick capture with flexible outputs that enable any post-production changes line updates might require. Simple to capture again for major updates, but easy to change in post for additional colorways or other small tweaks.

Stage Two: Shooting for Sell-In

Sell-in can be challenging, as it brings an increased diversity of needs along with more demand for assets as you work to support your sales team. Sell-in requires that you build product experiences to support your wholesale B2B system, your merchandising systems, and your rep tools. These tools often leverage multi-frame photography that appears directly in the platform, but also gets repurposed for downloadable PDF digital catalogs.

This diversity of uses means a variety of shots are needed, including products on white or transparent backgrounds, lifestyle photos and videos, model shots, and more.

There will also be a call for a selection of digital media and assets, empowering your sales team to tell your brand鈥檚 seasonal story. This can mean anything from enhanced product feature shots to short 360-degree video to longer featurettes.

Your retail partners will also want imagery that supports their efforts to sell your brand inside their own digital experiences. These assets will need to remain consistent with what retailers have already received from any other brands they carry.

That鈥檚 a lot of demand put on your photo team at this stage. Let鈥檚 break down the solutions.

Specialized Sell-in Solutions: Multi-Frame E-Commerce Photography and Product Videos

Multi-frame e-comm photography is a straightforward approach to product photography for your B2B systems, digital catalogs, and your retail partner鈥檚 systems. Product videos include walk-in and 360掳 product shots that deliver a simple, elevated experience and can be used widely across your B2B systems and web presentation tools. Additional videos showing your products in use can help arm your reps to accurately show and tell. Examples of both are below.

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When Barry McGeough was hired as Wolverine Worldwide鈥檚 global vice president of innovation in March of 2020, little did anyone know that the world would go into a global shutdown. Trade shows were canceled. In-person rep and retailer meetings were nonexistent. And yet, the sell-in process still needed to happen. Retailers still needed to replenish their inventory, stay on trend, and bring in new products. Just not in the same way they used to.

Before the shutdown, McGeough was tasked to grow innovation throughout Wolverine Worldwide. In particular, plans to launch virtual/augmented reality (AR) showrooms were being developed as many businesses and consumers already trended toward the idea. In fact, a 2019 pre-COVID-19 global survey conducted by Nielsen found that augmented and virtual reality were listed as consumers鈥� top technologies they were seeking to use in their daily life. And Wolverine Worldwide knew this want was only going to grow bigger.

With COVID-19 forcing the old way of reps and retailers working together to a standstill, this fast-forwarded the adoption of AR showrooms by Wolverine Worldwide.

鈥淲hat was expected to be created/adopted within two years, COVID-19 turned into a five-month creation/adoption process,鈥� said McGeough. 鈥淗owever, the help of Checkmate, SeekXR, and Envoy B2B made it easy for us to create augmented reality showrooms that elevated how our reps supported their retailers digitally during sell-in.鈥�

What Wolverine Worldwide鈥檚 AR Showroom Looks like

McGeough and the team at Wolverine Worldwide knew they needed a showroom that was easy to use and simple to navigate, yet still provided a human, personalized experience for their sales reps and retailers. To accomplish that with their AR showrooms, they incorporated features that highly resembled physical showrooms.

Features of their showrooms included:

• 9 view spots throughout the virtual showroom
• Easy ability to click on the showcased products to see a 365-degree view of the item, the description, the price, and the ability to add it to their assortment list or put it back on the virtual shelf
• A fully interactive AR experience through the use of QR codes on each of the products. These QR codes allow users to open the product up on their phone and see the virtual shoe in their current, physical setting using their phone鈥檚 camera.
• 鈥淭ool Tips鈥� that enable hovering over each style of shoe to display exactly what style it is without having to click to see the entire product details
• Search and style functions that allow retailers to easily search the brand鈥檚 database for particular styles without having to find them within the virtual showroom floor
• Easy assortment building capabilities right from the showroom
• An in-showroom shopping cart that is linked directly to Envoy B2B for streamlined ordering
• Creation of session links that allow reps to generate unique showroom URLs to share with their retailers. This link enables the retailers to see what the rep is clicking on/viewing within the showroom during a mirrored viewing session. Ultimately, this enables the rep and retailer to be in the same virtual room without being physically together.

With many brands and retailers forced into digital interaction, recent Envoy B2B research found that retailers still crave communication and guidance from a connected rep. Wolverine Worldwide鈥檚 AR showrooms were specifically designed to create a more human experience for retailers while still having the virtual features necessary to succeed in remote working styles.

How Was All This Made Possible in Just Five Months?

Thanks to the agile alignment of Checkmate, Seek XR, and Envoy B2B, each company played a special role in developing the virtual/augmented reality showroom in partnership with Wolverine Worldwide. And all of this was done in just five short months.

Here鈥檚 how each company played a part in making this happen:

First, Checkmate provided and created virtual, shoppable showroom destinations made available in Envoy B2B.

Next, SeekXR was brought in to create, manage, and deploy 3D products within Envoy B2B.

Finally, Envoy B2B made 3D products from SeekXR available within its catalog, assortment, and ordering experience. Additionally, through an integration with Checkmate, Envoy B2B enables assortment creation from right within the augmented showrooms. This assortment can be captured as the basis for an order directly within Envoy B2B.

鈥淲ith the powerful coalition between Checkmate, SeekXR, and Envoy B2B, we were able to build virtual/augmented showrooms that display both footwear and apparel for two brands and thousands of styles. Partnering with them significantly enhanced our B2B competency,鈥� says McGeough.

Ultimately, this partnership allowed Wolverine Worldwide to build and launch their first two augmented reality showrooms for both the Sperry and Saucony brands within five short months, while recently building and launching new showrooms integrating both footwear and apparel for additional brands in the portfolio in September of 2021.

Augmented Reality Is Here to Stay

According to ARtillery Intelligence, there were 596 million active AR devices in 2020. That number is projected to increase to 1.73 billion by 2024. The true reality is that virtual and augmented reality experiences are here to stay鈥攁nd not just as a quick fix for working virtually through the pandemic.

鈥淭he nice-to-haves are becoming the have-to-haves,鈥� stated McGeough. 鈥淧eople are now expecting to be able to try products on virtually, have a full description of the product at their fingertips, and interact with it within their living rooms.鈥�

McGeough went on to explain the endless possibilities when it came to virtual and augmented reality showrooms.

鈥淣ow, instead of a rep bringing all of the brand鈥檚 products to a meeting, AR showrooms allow them to hop on a plane with a few samples and an iPad to showcase their items to a buyer,鈥� said McGeough. 鈥淎nd if an in-person meeting isn鈥檛 feasible, then they are easily able to be 100 percent virtual without losing that human connection to the rep or the product.鈥�

This makes augmented reality a sustainable alternative, allowing companies to save on shipping costs, resources, and time, all while reducing their own carbon footprint.

By continuously innovating and aligning with agile partners that understand the wholesale/B2B world like Checkmate, SeekXR, and Envoy B2B, Wolverine Worldwide was able to create virtual/augmented reality showrooms that easily allowed their retailers to connect with their reps, purchase products, and maintain successful sell-in seasons.

鈥淎s the world starts to be more comfortable with digital landscapes, virtual and augmented realities will become more and more acceptable,鈥� said McGeough. 鈥淥verall, it鈥檚 not the question of 鈥楧o we need this?鈥� it鈥檚 鈥榃hen will we need this?鈥� And the answer is now.鈥�

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