As of 2016, more than 36 million people in America practiced yoga, nearly three quarters of whom are women. And spending on yoga-related apparel, classes, accessories and equipment topped $16 billion in 2016.
By 2020, general activewear sales are expected to reach $83 billion, according to data from Morgan Stanley.
With interest in the yoga lifestyle hardly slowing down, some retailers have trouble keeping must-have leggings, bra tops and more in stock for customers. Further, more Americans are feeling the burn in fitness and yoga studios, which are finding apparel to be a lucrative revenue stream, though they typically don’t have sufficient space to warehouse stockpiles of inventory.
To address the issue and the missed opportunity, B2B e-commerce solutions firm NuORDER launched Immediate Marketplaces to help retailers and studios ensure a consistent and available supply of active apparel. NuORDER said the new platform was built specifically with “high-growth, trend-driven categories, like activewear” in mind, and it lets retailers sidestep the time-consuming onboarding process of buying from more than 100 top brands such as Koral, Onzie and Varley.
And the benefits don’t stop at the retailers, according to NuORDER. It’s not uncommon for brands on Immediate Marketplaces to have launched as direct-to-consumers startups, as did Noli Yoga. Now, though, as it’s entering a new phase of growth, Noli has partnered with NuORDER to digitize its wholesale push, enabling it to sell bulk orders pre-reason as well as when it’s available to ship.
“Any time you have an opportunity to quickly turn product into cash, it’s a huge benefit to the business,” Slava Furman, founder of Noli Yoga, said. “It allows us to reinvest the cash into new products to propel our business forward.”