The North Face achieves print-free B2B

TRANFORMING WHOLESALE

The North Face eliminates printed sales catalogs

The North Face reimagined wholesale merchandising by replacing printed sales catalogs and workbooks with a digital buying experience powered by Elastic.

Moving away from print required more than digitizing catalogs. Retailers needed a better way to build assortments, collaborate with sales reps, and manage complex product lines. Together, The North Face and Elastic created a merchandising experience that made digital selling more flexible, collaborative, and intuitive than traditional print.

The result was a complete shift in how retailers buy. Buyers gained real-time product information, interactive merchandising tools, and personalized assortments, while The North Face strengthened retailer relationships, supported sustainability goals, and reduced operating costs.

RETAILER-FIRST FUTURE

Creating a better buying experience 

The outdoor industry had long relied on printed catalogs and workbooks. Buyers were comfortable marking up pages, building assortments by hand, and referencing static product information throughout the selling season.

The North Face knew simply replacing printed catalogs with PDFs wouldn’t change buyer behavior. The digital experience needed to improve the buying process.

Working closely with Elastic, the team developed an interactive merchandising platform that allows retailers to:

Instead of static catalogs that quickly became outdated, buyers gained a living merchandising experience that evolves throughout the season.

“The North Face and Elastic came together at the perfect time with the purpose of enhancing the buying and product engagement experience for our retailers. We had some really ambitious ideas for an assortment and merchandising tool that would move us beyond printed sales materials. Elastic had the creativity, dynamic vision, and technology platform to help develop these ideas with us and bring them to life.”

Patrick Fitzmaurice
Senior Sales Planning Manager, The North Face

Retailers quickly embraced the platform, leading to full adoption of the digital buying experience.

Because product information updates in real time, The North Face also reduced time to market by an average of one month during each six-month selling season, giving both internal teams and retailers more time to plan assortments and drive sales.

GOING GREEN

Supporting sustainability goals

Eliminating printed sales materials also supported The North Face’s broader sustainability initiatives.

As product segmentation expanded, the company needed more catalog variations each season. Continuing to print larger volumes of sales materials no longer aligned with its sustainability strategy or long-term business goals.

By moving merchandising online, The North Face significantly reduced paper consumption while giving retailers access to the most current product information throughout the selling season.

MEASURABLE RESULTS

Reducing costs while improving efficiency

Replacing printed catalogs with Elastic reduced both printing costs and manual work across the wholesale sales process.

The North Face achieved a 35% reduction in B2B sales and marketing costs associated with printed sales materials. Those savings helped offset the investment in digital merchandising while creating a more efficient buying process for both internal teams and retail partners.

Beyond direct cost savings, the move to digital merchandising improved collaboration, shortened selling cycles, and created a stronger foundation for future revenue growth.