Advanstar Communications’ “Shop the Floor” digital showroom for buyers and sellers received a major boost recently when the company partnered with Balluun, a social business-to-business technology provider.

“Shop the Floor” was launched early this year at Advanstar’s fashion-related shows, including MAGIC Marketplace.

Partnering with Switzerland-based Balluun allows Advanstar’s “Shop the Floor” offering to now be seamlessly integrated for trade shows, digital showrooms, B-to-B communication and commerce.

In addition, Balluun’s technology will enable Advanstar to provide its customers with a commerce-enabled “Shop the Floor” mobile application, which is designed to enhance and complement the in-person experience.

“This partnership combines complementary strengths and focus to benefit the markets and customers we serve,” said Joe Loggia, CEO of Advanstar.

He added, “Advanstar has leading brands and hundreds of thousands of customer relationships across multiple industries, while Balluun brings deep software development skills and the latest technology for b-to-b commerce. With this relationship, we will be able to help raise the profile of our exhibitors, expand their exposure to their respective markets, as well as provide more discovery and buying opportunities to our attendees.”

 
“Shop the Floor” opens to retailers 30 days before MAGIC’s physical showfloor, stays open during the show and remains open for 30 days after the show.

 
“’Shop the Floor’ (allows) retailers more time to get their job done,” Loggia said.

 
Retailers have the opportunity to shop the floor by categories, create look books and choose early on what they want to buy.

 
“It will create a 60-day value equation,” Loggia said. “People will still need to come to the show to … touch the merchandise.”

By integrating the Balluun software platform, the “Shop the Floor” experience will have a heightened level of ‘social’ activity as well, creating more of an ‘in-person’ dynamic that leads to better sales cultivation, as opposed to simply automating the order-taking process, according to Balluun executives.

“When we launched Balluun, we knew we were leading the way in shaping the future of wholesale social commerce,” said Peter Koch, CEO and co-founder of Balluun.

He added, “We realized early on that there is a great need in the tradeshow industry for a platform like Balluun to enhance and extend the experience for exhibitors, attendees and beyond the tradeshow floor. We are thrilled to be partnering with a world-renowned tradeshow organization like Advanstar. Together, we are on a tremendous path that will transform the face of the tradeshow industry.”