Elastic Suite
Transforming B2B Sales for Apparel and Textiles

One of the most notable trends in the evolution of enterprise technology is the emergence of innovative solutions designed to help integrate and improve existing business processes. Within the apparel and textile industry, this trend is clearly seen in dramatic changes taking place in supplier relationships between brand manufacturers and retailers. Elastic Suite, a pioneer and innovator in B2B sales solutions, is helping manufacturers replace their traditional sales process with a much more streamlined, efficient and user-friendly experience that is yielding measurable bottom line results.

“The digitization of today’s marketplace is touching virtually every vertical industry, including apparel and textiles, and this trend is displacing the traditional inefficient methods of selling products in the B2B space,” says Josh Reddin, CEO of Elastic Suite. “Progressive companies are finding better ways to integrate new solutions with their enterprise resource planning (ERP) while maximizing operating efficiency, and one key way to do that is through what we call cloud-based sales process management or SPM.”

Elastic SPM helps move the needle for its clients in two key ways: cost savings by maximizing sales process efficiency and increasing revenues through sales growth. Cost savings come from consolidating platforms within an organization’s service oriented architecture (SOA), reducing printing costs through tablet access to digital sales materials, streamlining order placement, optimizing inventory and reducing sample product portfolios. Sales growth comes from better merchandise visualization, more targeted sales presentations, enhanced buyer user experience, stronger B2B branding, easier new market penetration and increased client retention.

“Gone are the days of sales reps using cumbersome sales catalogs and printed order forms,” says Reddin. “Our solution completely digitizes the sales process, allowing merchandising teams to assort their product line, see how it will look on the retail floor, collaborate internally and start to build up their program. It also helps forecast the trends that are likely to be popular the next season. For the sales reps, it becomes easier to become familiar with new product lines, forecast what they’re going to sell in upcoming seasons and serve more segmented markets.”

The digitization of today’s marketplace is touching virtually every vertical industry, including apparel and textiles, and this trend is displacing the traditional, inefficient methods of selling products in the B2B space

The company’s current clients include many big names like The North Face, Hurley, Oakley and Spyder. Recently, The North Face (TNF), specializing in outerwear adventure clothing and gear was looking for a more efficient way to maintain and manage their broad product line. Their existing B2B solution did not offer any visual merchandising functionality or the ability to create a custom catalog. Elastic organized their client’s massive amount of workbook data while creating an elegant solution for visually displaying TNF’s product detail and the selling features that accompany them.

TNF reps are now effectively using Elastic’s platform across many phases of their sales process. At large line showings, rep groups have invested in flat screen monitors to use for presentations powered by Elastic’s compelling browse feature. Based on Elastic’s success with TNF, which is a Vanity Fair subsidiary, the company is poised to introduce similar solutions across the VF Corporation family of brands. Elastic is also working to integrate seamless consumer facing ecommerce integration with their B2B offering, providing a full 360-degree solution that saves manufacturers time, money and overhead.

“It’s our long term vision to bring sales process efficiency to both the B2B and consumer experience for our clients. This will be true for not only the apparel and textile sector, but across multiple manufacturing verticals and industries as we carry out our growth strategy.” concludes Reddin.