Digital MarkeplacesCould Solve a Huge Problemfor Wholesale Buyers at LiveTrade Shows

Brought to you by: EventTechBrief.com

Wholesale buyers -Particularly those in the

gift, home goods, furniture,and apparel industries -have a huge pain point.

At times, it can be excruciatingly tedious for them to search a large exhibition floor forproducts and companies that meet their specific buying criteria. Product directories areonly marginally helpful and pre-show Google searches yield poor results.

By borrowing from the ecommerceplaybook, trade show organizers and a

handful of platform developers arecoming to the rescue.

Dan Merns was one of the buyers who wrestled withthe inefficiencies of large trade shows.

As a buyer for retail giant Bed, Bath & Beyond, hestruggled with having enough time to find newproducts when much of his show schedule was takenup by pre-arranged meetings.

Plus, he often wanted to simply research a newproduct or category to get some basic informationprior to having a conversation with a salesperson,but the tools were not available.

To provide attendees with a

way to research products

efficiently before a trade

show or instantly qualify

exhibitors from the show

floor, Merns developed

a white-label digital

marketplace designed to

complement face-to-face

events.

Buyers with access to MerchantFuse can

Search & Filter Products

Save Favorites

and follow exhibitors

The platform can also be ecommerce enabledif the show organizer desires that capability.

They can also sell advertising orcollect transaction fees. Exhibitorscan enjoy additional exposurewhile avoiding the hassle ofrecreating another online store.MerchantFuse synchronizes withexhibitors’ existing ecommercewebsites.

Buyers aren’t the only participantswho benefit from event-specificdigital marketplaces. WithMerchantFuse, for example,organizers can access data andanalytics, such as trendingproducts or search terms.

Advanstar’s digital marketplace, ShopTheFloor, combines brands and productsfrom fifteen of the organization’s apparel shows. Vince Tsai, senior vice president,general manager of ShopTheFloor, agrees that such platforms offer multiplebenefits to buyers and brands.

“Buyers have a lot to think about. We felt there was anopportunity to aggregate [product discovery and wholesalebuying] into an online platform. And, if a buyer can’t make itto the show, he can still see the trends online.”

ShopTheFloor is one half of a two-part technology strategy that Advanstar hasdeveloped to streamline and digitize the wholesale buying process. An iOS order-taking app works in conjunction with the digital marketplace. It provides exhibitorswith the ability to take orders digitally so that they can be entered more easily intothe company’s ERP (enterprise resource planning) system later or to enter ordersdirectly into the ERP from the show floor.

- Vince Tsai, ShopTheFloor

Both MerchantFuse and Advanstar have thoughtcarefully about how product discovery happensboth in real life and online. In an effort to ease thepain and boost the opportunity at wholesalemerchandise trade shows, the companies aredeveloping ways to swap the inefficiency of oneplatform for the efficiency of the other withoutdestroying the value and integrity of either.

Tsai has no concerns that ShopTheFloor and other marketplaces that followwill negatively impact the company’s live events. “ShopTheFloor enhances thelive shows. It’s a great opportunity [for buyers] to find new products online sothat when they come to the show, they can be more efficient,” he explains. Forexhibitors, he says, “It’s an opportunity for them to get their products exposedto new buyers and have the ability to digitize the buying process.”

Digital event marketplaces appear to be the next chapter in theever-evolving story of how and where live events and digitalplatforms can coexist and converge.

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