Atlanta Market Launches New Digital Toolbox for Upcoming August Market

July 24, 2020  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry   

The Atlanta Market Remote page – available at AmericasMart.com/AtlantaRemote – is a digital hub for discovery, sourcing and shopping featuring a new Atlanta Market Catalog Connexion and a digitally augmented Atlanta Market Magazine plus a concentration of other educational and market planning resources.  

“Physical meets virtual this summer for Atlanta Market,” said Dorothy Belshaw, IMC chief marketing and digital officer. “With the COVID-19 crisis disrupting Atlanta Market, we are tapping our proprietary digital tools to pivot to an in-person and online hybrid that will present a robust buying and selling experience for our buyers and brands. These digital tools are not a replacement for the scheduled in-person market but serve to enhance the experience.”

In addition to the new digital tools, the Atlanta Market Remote webpage provides trend features and online education plus a comprehensive listing of showrooms open either physically or virtually for the summer market. Additionally, Atlanta Market’s temporary exhibitors are listed, despite cancellation of the trade show portion of the market this summer due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.  

Expansion of Catalog Connexion and integration with ShopZio – two proprietary digital tools powered by IMC_di, IMC’s Digital Innovations division – allows buyers to source and shop whether they are meeting in person or online this summer.

The Atlanta Market Catalog Connexion provides product sourcing and discovery opportunities via a keyword-searchable library of brand catalogs from showrooms and temporary exhibitors in every market product category. The intuitive system allows suppliers to easily leverage their existing catalog assets to showcase full product lines and enables buyers to visually source across brands and easily request product information. Through integration with ShopZio, a B2B e-commerce platform, buyers also can directly purchase select products from the Atlanta Market Catalog Connexion plus 1.5 million more SKUs available for purchase through ShopZio. This new, interactive tool goes live on August 5, 2020 and will be useable throughout the year. 

To facilitate connectivity with brands, the hallmark Atlanta Market Magazine is adding interactive elements for its Summer 2020 publication. The 230+ page guide offers interactive trend reports plus clickable ads that connect readers with videos, catalogs and contact information for brands. Available during the market, the Atlanta Market Buyer’s Guide also will feature these elements.

To support social distancing and in support of buyer sentiments, all market educational programming is being presented online for the Summer 2020 market. Recordings of the nearly 30 webinars presented to date are available now on the Atlanta Market Remote page with an additional 10+ set to be presented and posted before the market.

These interactive and educational digital tools extend Atlanta Market’s virtual trend discovery programs. “Shop the Show: Alumni at Home” features influencers from the past seasons exploring five relevant themes and showcasing favorite discoveries from Atlanta Market. Market Snapshot showcases exciting, new, innovative and trendsetting products with online voting determining three Market Snapshot People’s Choice Award winners. Atlanta Market’s social media accounts – @AmericasMartATL on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – also are presenting top products and trends plus other content about the market.