Wholesale Fashion Industry Demonstrates Resilience Through Digital Transformation

Newly released data from JOOR shows brands and retailers maintaining business continuity amidst ongoing pandemic

New York, NY (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - JOOR, the world’s leading digital wholesale platform for fashion, today released its growth figures for the second half of 2020. These data points illustrate how COVID-19 has ushered in an entirely new blueprint for wholesale by spurring brands and retailers to accelerate their digital transformation efforts.

Ongoing business disruption and shutdowns early in 2020 led brands and retailers to turn increasingly to virtual channels to conduct business as the year progressed. With over 8,600 brands and 200,000 curated retailers, JOOR’s platform activity represents the luxury fashion industry as a whole. Transaction data from the platform shows that business continues despite ongoing economic headwinds. Looking at the second half of 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019, both gross merchandise value (GMV) and average order value (AOV) passing through the JOOR platform increased 52% and 57% respectively. In addition, 4,000 new retailers placed orders in the second half of 2020 compared to the second half of 2019.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the retail industry,” said Kristin Savilia, CEO of JOOR. “However, it has also served as a call to action for brands and retailers to find digital ways to work together. This is a new way of doing business that will continue even when in-person contact is possible again because it is convenient, sustainable and cost-effective.”

JOOR’s data shows that strong engagement is happening in the ecosystem. So far in 2020, 1.8 million new connections have been made on the JOOR platform between brands and curated retailers. Compared to the second half of 2019, brand profile visits increased by 362% and retailer logins rose by almost 50%. The top five retailers using JOOR as measured by year-to-date orders include Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks, Net-a-Porter and Mytheresa.

At the same time, small and medium-sized local retailers remain important in the retail ecosystem. The devastating impacts of the pandemic have made consumers conscious of supporting retailers in their own communities. Among JOOR’s 200,000 SMB retailers, transactions in the second half of 2020 rose 60% compared to the same period in 2019.

Virtual fashion shows, which were previously non-existent, gained significant traction in 2020. During the summer and fall fashion season, JOOR hosted 16 global events on its JOOR Passport platform, attracting more than 135,000 visitors from 128 countries. From a brand perspective, 1628 brands participated in a JOOR Passport event where they averaged 15 new connections per event and sold more than 470,000 items.

In October, McKinsey & Company published its own analysis that reflects the trends that emerge in JOOR’s data. They conclude that “these pandemic-induced patterns are likely to become permanent. Close to nine in ten decision makers say that new commercial and go-to-market sales practices will be a fixture throughout 2021 and possibly beyond.”

For more information, download JOOR’s whitepaper with comprehensive growth figures or visit JOOR.com.

About JOOR
JOOR is the world’s industry-standard wholesale platform for fashion, that transacts over $1.5Bn in GMV every month. More than 8,600 brands and over 200,000 curated fashion retailers across 144 countries connect on the platform every day. With a commitment to fueling the advancement and growth of both brands and retailers, JOOR provides an ecosystem that combines dynamic virtual showrooms with collaborative tools including JOOR Passport, which centralizes the trade show experience across multiple fashion events. JOOR users have greater flexibility, visibility, performance and insights into their business. JOOR is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Paris, London, Milan, Madrid, Melbourne and Tokyo. For more information visit: JOOR.com.

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