Denver, May 15, 2018 – Leading cycling and triathlon apparel manufacturer Pearl Izumi has successfully completed the initial launch of Plumriver’s Elastic Suite B2B digital merchandising platform. The launch covers the Shimano subsidiary’s North America region with a customized wholesale merchandising solution designed to streamline the pre-season sales process and reduce or eliminate printed sales workbooks. In establishing a relationship with Pearl Izumi, Elastic is poised to potentially serve all of parent company Shimano Corporation’s vertical business segments with broad-based, fully-integrated B2B solutions on a global scale.
Following the rollout Pearl Izumi is now utilizing customized Elastic merchandising features across all of their apparel product lines, including road cycling, mountain biking and triathlon. The Elastic implementation is expected to help the company achieve new levels of sales process efficiency, significantly improve the wholesale buying experience and strengthen their relationships with retail partners. Enhancing the B2B merchandising and product procurement experience with retailers was a key objective for the company when searching for a technology provider with the ability to create the most effective solution.
“Over the past several seasons Pearl Izumi had been searching for the best technology partner to help transition our sales team from printed workbooks to an integrated digital merchandising solution,” said Todd Johnson, Shimano/ Pearl Izumi Senior Sales Manager for North America. “We found Elastic through recommendations from our current retail partners and because they already serve so many leading apparel brands, many of the core capabilities that we were looking for were already offered on their current platform.”
“Serving Pearl Izumi as the world’s leading cycling and triathlon apparel brand is an incredible opportunity for Elastic,” said Josh Reddin, Elastic Founder/ PlumRiver Principal. “Bringing Elastic’s powerful B2B merchandising capabilities, that are most favored by leading retailer procurement managers, will significantly enhance Pearl Izumi’s retailer relationships and we look forward to eventually doing the same for the entire Shimano family of products and brands.”
Through platform standardization, the application of the most innovative technologies and a much more strategic B2B sales approach, Elastic helps both manufacturers and retailers achieve efficiency-driven cost savings and incremental sales growth. Cost savings come through streamlined order entry, digital catalogs, print reduction, resource optimization, inventory management, online accounting functionality and product sample reduction. Increased sales revenues come through customized retailer/dealer applications, strategic sales planning, digital merchandising, complex pricing incentive programs, history-driven selling, strengthening brand equity, segmented sales capability, increased client acquisition/retention and enhanced sales presentations.
PlumRiver and Elastic together serve clients representing some of the world’s largest and most iconic brands in the outdoor, sporting goods, apparel and footwear industries. In addition to Pearl Izumi, selected clients include: The North Face, Patagonia, Timberland, Asics, Rawlings, TYR, Fjällräven, 2XU, Boardriders, Crocs, Puma, TOMS, Oakley, Reebok/CCM, Bauer, Easton, Spyder, Burton, Reef, Hurley, Fila, Kuhl, Nidecker, Black Diamond, Majestic, Smith Optics, Lucy, Bushnell, Lowe Alpine, Rab, Simms Fishing, Lole, Carter’s, Smartwool, Speedo, Golfino, Hi-Tec, Bell, OshKosh, Vans and CamelBak.
About PlumRiver and Elastic
Founded in 2003, PlumRiver LLC is a leading provider of B2B ecommerce software solutions. Easy-to-use, Web-based applications are tailored to the needs of manufacturers and wholesalers of footwear, apparel, outdoor, sporting goods and other segments of the specialty retail market. In early 2016 PlumRiver acquired Elastic Suite, the leading provider of B2B digital merchandising and sales enhancement technologies serving category-leading clients from a variety of manufacturing verticals. Some of the world’s leading manufacturing brands utilize Elastic solutions, including digital catalogs, white boarding, order entry and visual merchandising. The company’s combined solutions quickly bridge the gap between order processing systems, sales reps, independent retailers and consumers, while achieving higher levels of process efficiency, platform consolidation, sales growth and profitability. Clients benefit further from solutions designed to quickly and easily integrate with existing IT infrastructure and ERP systems.
