The future of sales in fashion

B2B marketplaces, digital showrooms, mobile applications, and the digitalisation of trade fairs are accelerating the market while also optimising interactions between brands and retailers.

Whether independent or in-house, the sales professional is responsible for managing the relationship between the brand and its resellers, as well as presenting collections within their territory and ensuring strong placement in city centres.
They are the brand’s eyes on the ground, analysing competition and the sector’s dynamism.

We spoke with various market players from B2B marketplace operators to fashion retailers, to understand the impact of this digital evolution on the sales role and to explore whether we can talk about an “Uberisation” of the market, as travelling salespeople increasingly shift to video calls.

“I don’t necessarily agree with the idea that digital will replace human contact and tools such as showrooms or trade fairs,” explains Pierre-Louis Lacoste, co-founder of the B2B marketplace Ankorstore.

“What we’ve observed is that small independent shops didn’t have much interaction with agents or sales teams, with the focus mainly on larger accounts even in a brand’s distribution schedule. The 80/20 rule applies: 80% of production capacity is dedicated to major accounts, and the remaining 20% serves smaller ones.”

Pierre-Louis Lacoste then explains his aim to simplify and energise the relationship with smaller accounts:
“Our Ankorstore system is quite virtuous in that respect, we offer sales agents the opportunity to prospect through Ankorstore, and for each new account opened, we give the retailer €100 off their first order. This empowers agents to be proactive. We cover shipping costs, handle delivery, and provide a €100 discount; we remain the best digital tool for opening new accounts.”

Retailers, for their part, are noticing the growing absence of sales representatives in their area.
Inès Aubrun, director of the men’s concept store Aubrun Homme in Bourges, points out that brands no longer visit, and although sales figures remain very satisfactory, the lack of personal relationships is felt season after season.“My leading brands, my top ten, Lacoste, Tommy, Ralph, not a single one of them comes to visit,” remarks Inès Aubrun.
“I think they don’t prioritise it. They focus on developing their stores and websites, but they don’t realise it’s us doing the hard work. We’ve carried Lacoste forever, and we’ve been working with Ralph Lauren for over thirty years. Brands forget that it’s retailers and sales staff who do the work on the ground. It’s the retailers who introduce the brand’s DNA and values, explain the products to customers.”

« Les marques que je fais, je ne peux pas dire qu’elles viennent vraiment sur nos secteurs, cela n’existe pratiquement plus.
Moi je le regrette. C’est dommage.
Déjà il y a le relationnel et, surtout, prendre connaissance de notre environnement de marque, c’est très important, prendre connaissance de notre implantation dans la ville également, car il n’y a pas que Paris ou les grandes villes qui existent !
Ba&sh ne se déplace plus, Isabel Marant ne se déplace plus.
Je note quand même que Zadig & Voltaire font vraiment l’effort, ils sont très proches de nous.
Ils viennent. »

The same story in the south of France. Elisabeth Dreyfus, who manages a women’s ready-to-wear store called Elisa By Elisa in Angoulême and has just opened an American Vintage franchise next door, expresses her disappointment at the near disappearance of in-person visits in her area, despite their importance in understanding a town centre’s dynamics.

“The brands I carry, I can’t say they really come to our areas anymore, it hardly happens. I regret that. It’s a shame.
There’s the personal relationship, of course, but above all, understanding our brand environment is crucial, as is knowing our position in the town, because Paris and big cities aren’t the only places that matter!
Ba&sh no longer visit, Isabel Marant no longer visit. I do note, however, that Zadig & Voltaire really make an effort, they’re very close to us. They do come.”

Romain Blanco, directeur général de la marketplace BtoB Le New Black, analysait cette évolution dans un livre blanc dédié aux mutations du wholesale, paru en mars 2022.

Selon Romain, les modifications du comportement des marques et des acheteurs forment un cercle vertueux qui mène à la digitalisation du process de vente BtoB.
Ce qui pousse à s’interroger sur la réduction du nombre de commerciaux au sein des marques.

Le directeur constate trois grandes modifications dans la relation acheteur/marque :

• « Lorsqu’une commande sur dix était initiée par un acheteur il y a cinq ans, aujourd’hui une commande sur deux est initiée par un acheteur.
  Il y a encore deux ans, beaucoup de marques ne mettaient que des croquis sur leur showroom digitaux pour éviter les copies et ne présentaient les produits physiques qu’en showroom.
  Il y avait ce côté confidentiel qui n’existe plus aujourd’hui.
  On s’est rendu compte que les marques laissaient de plus en plus d’autonomie aux acheteurs sur les plateformes digitales et que ces derniers se débrouillaient très bien tout seuls.
• On constate également que le panier moyen s’est réduit pour ne pas se surstocker.
  En revanche, la fréquence des réassorts est bien plus importante qu’avant.
• Par conséquent, on constate enfin, l’augmentation du nombre de marques qui digitalisent la gestion de leur réassort sur des applications intuitives comme Le New Black.
  Avec une gestion des stocks entièrement interfacée sur un ERP et donc beaucoup plus lisible et collaborative.
  L’acheteur voit l’évolution des stocks en temps réels.
  Il va donc passer ses commandes de réassort comme sur un site e-commerce.  »

On the retailers’ side, the evolution is clear and can even be seen as a form of neglect.
But is this really detrimental to the health of their business?

Interestingly, it seems that it’s not just the behaviour of brands that is changing.
There is also an adaptation on the part of professional buyers.

Romain Blanco, CEO of the B2B marketplace Le New Black, analysed this evolution in a white paper on the changes in wholesale, published in March 2022.

According to Romain, changes in the behaviour of both brands and buyers create a virtuous circle leading to the digitalisation of the B2B sales process.
This raises questions about the reduction in the number of sales representatives within brands.

The director highlights three major changes in the buyer/brand relationship :

• “Where once one in ten orders was initiated by a buyer five years ago, today one in two orders is initiated by a buyer. Until two years ago, many brands only showed sketches on their digital showrooms to avoid copying and only presented physical products in showrooms. There was a confidential aspect that no longer exists today.
• We have noticed that brands are giving buyers increasing autonomy on digital platforms, and buyers are managing perfectly well on their own.
• We have also observed that the average basket size has decreased to avoid overstocking.
• However, the frequency of reorders is much higher than before. As a result, we are finally seeing more brands digitalising their reorder management on intuitive apps like Le New Black. With stock management fully integrated into an ERP system, making it much clearer and more collaborative. Buyers can see real-time stock updates. They place their reorder purchases just like on an e-commerce site.”

Fashion commerce is therefore shifting towards more autonomous buyer profiles and a purchasing rhythm spread throughout the year according to their needs.
We are now far from the single seasonal appointment for placing orders.
In this context, it seems logical that brands invest more in their digital showrooms rather than in field sales forces.

This trend, also adopted by trade fairs, strongly reinforces the overall mindset around autonomous and digital order placement.
Indeed, both WSN and Tranoï have developed their own digital matchmaking platforms connecting brands and buyers, CXMP and Tranoï Link, respectively.

In his testimony, Jean-Pascal Teti from the Trinity boutiques in Saint-Tropez explains that for him, the relationship with the sales representative remains paramount, even when the latter is only behind a webcam. Trust plays a major role in purchasing decisions.

“We are very sensitive to the personal connection with the person.
It is a key part of our buying criteria, and we actually get along extremely well with all our suppliers.
We do virtual showrooms when we have no other choice, there are some small hiccups, but we’ve managed quite well, even though it’s very difficult for materials.
And the salespeople from each showroom are also there to guide and advise us.”

Indeed, as long as the sales representative can guide their clients towards the best selections and advise brands on the optimal placements, their role will remain crucial.

On top of these two skills, it’s reasonable to expect that new criteria will quickly be added to the profiles sought,  such as advanced knowledge of social media, the ability to implement an app or onboard a new client onto a digital showroom, as well as presenting numerous capsule collections remotely, often created in partnership with influencers.

However, while this job description is already established within major fast-fashion retailers, it remains almost science fiction for some independent designers and retailers.