California Apparel News

MAGIC International is going high-tech.

Show organizers this week officially sealed a joint venture with Richmond, Calif.-based B2B specialist QRS Corp. to produce an Internet vehicle that will give retailers access to a 24/7 virtual marketplace complete with online showrooms, forecasting resources and e-commerce capabilities.

MAGIC president Joe Loggia and QRS chief executive officer John Simon announced the venture during the show and said they were confident that MAGIC’s revamped Web site, www.magiconline.com, would be a bottom-line-driven tool and a look of things to come for the apparel industry.

The site combines QRS’ new showroom technology, which encompasses its new Tradeweave retail network, with MAGIC’s vast apparel-industry resources to give retailers access to online showrooms at the click of a mouse. Tradeweave is QRS’ retailer network that features more than 80 million SKUs. Among the newest partners to join the network is Hot Sox, a licensee to Polo/Ralph Lauren.

The updated site with showroom technology is up and running. Registered visitors can click on the showrooms section and gain access to lines featuring Tradeweave’s digital images complete with price lists, inventory, color ways, etc.

“This will fundamentally change our business process,” said Loggia. “You can’t come up with all the solutions in just eight days per year [during MAGIC].”

Added Simon: “It’s the perfect complement to our companies. It’s retail-focused. MAGIC has gotten so huge. We want it to be better. We want to take the cost out of business and enhance profitability.”

James O’Halloran, showroom product manager for QRS, said the site would work for vendors looking to promote items or highlight new lines.

“This can be a big pre-show tool or a Monday morning–type tool,” he said, explaining that retailers will likely use the site as a supplement to their visits to MAGIC shows, using the site for pre-show planning and post-show fill-ins.

MAGIC executives said the site should especially benefit smaller companies with limited resources, as well as retailers who don’t have the time and money to travel to showrooms. Cost savings will come through giving retailers access to sales and discounts normally reserved for larger retailers. Vendors would get brand exposure though easier access to lines via the Web. Purchase-order automation will reduce labor costs and Web access will reduce sales costs. QRS has estimated cost savings to be as much as five percentage points for some of its customers.

MAGIC and QRS executives questioned about the poor track record of e-commerce solutions for the apparel industry said the use of QRS’“back end” technology will be the difference for this venture, giving vendors and retailers the ability to fully execute transactions and conduct planning, inventory management, financing, tracking and other logistical solutions. Fully integrated e-commerce capabilities will be available during the first quarter of 2002.

This deal is especially noteworthy as it brings the apparel industry more up to speed in the world of technology. Apparel has been criticized as being slow to the punch in the technology race. At MAGIC, some vendors said that supply-chain tools have been successful in cutting lead times, but noted that the production end of the chain has not been able to keep up.

Some tech companies said the economy is also hindering investment from the manufacturing and retailing sides.

“With the economy going south, retailers are becoming more deliberate,” said Matthew Sicko, an executive with ANT USA, an Acton, Mass.-based provider of merchandise-planning software. “They’re more educated about their purchases. It’s a longer cycle now.” —Robert McAllister