ExchangeFrame: Trade Shows Made Easier
Tapping into the B2B marketplace via online wholesaling has been a promising concept but a tall order to fill. A few have attempted it, and a few have failed. Now the producers of the Miami-based contemporary apparel show Trafik have formed a joint venture with retail analytics consultant Predictix LLC to form ExchangeFrame (www.exchangeframe.com), an ambitious Web venture that brings trade shows and showrooms to the online B2B environment.
ExchangeFrame is a Web-based platform that, in addition to staging online trade shows, provides a medium for online showrooms, wireless order processing, inventory management and marketing.
The venture was formed by Trafik’s Chief Operating Officer Dan Caplin and Predictix principals Matt Odom and Molham Aref as a way to eliminate the paper environment associated with wholesaling and to capitalize on emerging Web technology.
The company will put its engine to the test next month during the Trafik show’s Aug. 15–17 run at the Miami Beach Convention Center, where 300 brands—including many from the West Coast such as Da-Nang, Oligo Tissew, Paige Denim, 2B Free, Ed Hardy and Christian Audigier—will be exhibiting. All retailers attending will automatically be registered with www.exchangeframe.com, and exhibitors at Traffik receive a one-year subscription to ExchangeFrame with the price of their booth rental.
Beginning Aug. 7, buyers can preview lines and do some planning and strategizing online for the show.The Web site will contain product from exhibitors in a collaborative format, allowing buyers to view goods in an online catalog format with a robust search engine, fueled by a big set of filters. They can search by brand, category or by item. The pages feature note sections and shopping baskets similar to those of e-commerce sites. The system also features an open-tobuy tool, which allows buyers to set their criteria for the season.
“They can set a guideline of something like 60 percent women and 40 percent menswear, and the system will let them know where they’re at,” explained Caplin.
When the actual show starts, sales executives using Exchange- Frame will be able to take and process orders without the usual stacks of paper forms by using Bluetooth and wi-fi technology, coupled with new barcode technology that generates scans with handheld devices. When it’s all over, the sales force can upload the data into their backend systems without all the data re-keying that usually takes place.
“The system allows you to be very selective and productive,” said Caplin. “Buyers love it when they can do a lot of pre-planning. It gives them a sense of how to attack the show.”
ExchangeFrame is currently accessible via Mozilla’s Firefox browser, which takes seconds to download. Eventually, it will be opened up to Internet Explorer and Apple’s Safari browser.
When the show is long over, showrooms and brands can use other aspects of ExchangeFrame by staging “peep shows,” where vendors can show lines online. The vendor has control over access to the online showrooms, and retailers can also review orders made at a show or place re-orders.
Membership is $1,200 yearly for vendors. Access is free to retailers.
Caplin said the Exchange- Frame system works much better than the alternative, which is to send huge e-mail files containing line sheets to retailers. “There’s still a need to go to trade shows in person and visit showrooms, but yet, we can all share this virtual world in the same way we would in the physical world.”
ExchangeFrame executives have been meeting with other trade-show operators and hope to secure some partnerships soon.
“We know it may take several years, but we’re well-funded and in this for the long haul,” concluded Caplin. For more information, visit www.exchangeframe.com.
