A brief retrospect and a bright international perspective for retailers and brands

PART 2: THE FIRST YEAR AND THE NEXT PHASE

In a previous blog, CEO and co-founder Joost Brugmans gave some insight into why we started wholesale marketplace Orderchamp. After a flying start, the world encountered the COVID-19 virus that had an impact on the retail landscape. Stores are now open again, e-commerce is more active than ever and Orderchamp is also performing at full speed. We want to provide you with a quick review of the past months in this blog, but we especially want to share the bright perspective that is ahead of us.

A vision on paper is a start, but without the embracement of your concept you are left empty-handed. That is why we are very proud to announce that we have reached so many milestones before the end of our 'first year'. Before we look back at the highlights, on behalf of the entire team, I would like to express a heartfelt thanks to our first users. We could have never done it without your trust!

Strong growth by working together

We launched our beta product in May of last year, after which we officially launched our digital wholesale marketplace in September with the announcement of the 3 million investment of our venture partner henQ. On the brand-side, there are already more than 800 inspiring brands with over 60,000 unique products online. We add 100 new brands each month, striving for ever better conditions for our retailers, by offering the lowest minimum order amounts in the market and strong margins. On the retailer-side, we have already accumulated more than 10,000 registered retailers, of which approximately 50% were active on our platform this month. We see these numbers growing every month.

The brands have now nestled themselves in the algorithms, which are driven by machine learning, so that our retailers can easily find and purchase their next''bestsellers''We continue to add products in the right segments, by which we ensure that supply and demand are increasingly aligned. We also see that the previously affiliated retailers are returning more and more, because the supply has grown. This is beneficial for new brands that realize their first sales faster, but also for existing brands that add new collections.

Media attention & collaborations

We have not gone unnoticed by the media, for example Quote Magazine has voted us as one of the ‘25 most promising startups’ in the Netherlands and we were in the Sprout top 3 “Startup of the Year’ election. That’s fantastic for such a young company like ours! In addition, we have concluded partnerships with social organizations such as Discovered and Return to Sender to contribute to social entrepreneurship. This is of paramount importance to us and is one of the pillars of Orderchamp.

In the period before COVID-19, we also attended various inspiration and wholesale events; including those from showUP and Spotlight. Now that many of these fairs have been postponed or limited in terms of visitor numbers, we felt compelled to think along with our brands and retailers. 

That's why we recently decided to organize a digital wholesale event: the Orderchamp Digital Fair 2020. The foundation was already established with our current purchasing platform. Thanks to the addition of online collection presentations, livestreams and knowledge sessions, we offer an extra podium to our retailers and brands to continue to meet. Let inspiration, knowledge and buying convenience come together; we are there for you.

Results of our surveys and product development

Feedback is very important to us and we like to improve our proposition. In the past few months, we have therefore conducted multiple surveys amongst our brands and retailers. The positive feedback gives our team a lot of energy and we put this in the platform to make it even stronger.

Based on this feedback, we now have: 

• launched an extensive discount module (including volume discounts);
• built a favorite and follow function, including automatic updates;
• added the possibility to create one or more own collection(s);
• optimized the personalized homepage with recommendations;
• greatly improved the search function;
• built a list-order function for faster ordering;
• and… have in beta: inventory and order links with Lightspeed, MijnWebwinkel, CCV, WooCommerce and Shopify.

The coming period will be have increased focus on more opportunities for brands, taking inspiration on the platform to the next level. We are working on the redevelopment of the storefront pages which will add specific brand page, so that brands can show themselves in a better way. We are also launching curated lists with extensive tags, new filters for better navigation and the possibility to create / request quotes. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. 

Orderchamp goes international to differentiate locally

To top it all off, we are entering Europe! In the past few months we have received quite a few orders from Belgium, Germany and other European countries. We now have more than 3,000 international retailers on the platform. There are also over 150 brands from different countries added outside the Netherlands. With this we offer an even greater advantage of the platform; conducting international business safely and quickly. 

“A studio from Paris can offer the perfect products for a store in Utrecht, while a Dutch brand stands out in a German concept store. This allows retailers to make a difference locally.” 

In the first months, we will focus our efforts on France and, where possible, we will also conduct tests in other countries. The platform is multilingual, supports international VAT rules and has received new payment methods. We now offer an international wholesale marketplace that helps brands and retailers with their growth.

To conclude, we look forward to further realizing our vision: unique merchandise in every store!