Submitted by IMC

CHANTILLY, Va., (June 15, 2020) – Buyer activity and sales levels are surging on ShopZio, a B2B digital marketplace powered by IMC_di, International Market Centers’ digital innovation division. Key online content and activity metrics such as active users, new vendors, active SKUs and – most importantly – sales, are growing dramatically, far surpassing any pre-COVID level.

“The heightened level of buyer activity on ShopZio not only signals the reopening of business, but also reflects the influx of new content – in terms of both vendors and SKUs – now live on the B2B platform,” said Eric Dean, IMC_di president. “As buyers and suppliers look to connect and transact, activity on ShopZio has spiked.”

During the month of May, ShopZio’s month-over-month sales volume doubled. The 116% gain over April represents an all-time high of millions of dollars in product sales. The average order size also continued to rise and now totals nearly $1,100 per transaction, which is on par with pre-COVID spending levels.

“Timing is everything!” said Dean. “ShopZio has been a great interim solution for IMC’s customers, enabling buyers and sellers to connect during a time of unprecedented business disruption.”

Acquired in January 2020 as part of the IMC_di initiative, ShopZio is a fully functional B2B platform that facilitates product and resource discovery as well as transactional e-commerce. Following IMC’s April offer of free subscriptions, onboarding and transactions through year-end for customers, the number of active ShopZio vendors has nearly doubled and active SKUs increased by 75% to 726,287.

In July, IMC_di will integrate ShopZio fully with IMC’s market websites and leverage IMC’s marketing capabilities to better enable vendors to reach new buyers, capture leads and grow sales. Retailers and designers also will have an enhanced ability to source and shop. When ShopZio is easily linkable through IMC’s market websites – AmericasMart.com, IMCHightPointMarket.com and LasVegasMarket.com – 1,000+ brands and more than 2 Million SKU’s are expected to be live on the platform.

According to Dean, “Our use of this existing technology has been valuable in the short-term for our customers. We also gained many beneficial insights for the development and launch of IMC_di’s new, omni-channel digital marketplace later this year.”

About International Market Centers: International Market Centers (IMC) is the world’s largest operator of premier showroom space for furniture, gift, home décor, rug, and apparel industries. International Market Centers owns and operates nearly 20 million square feet of world-class exhibition space in High Point, N.C., Las Vegas and Atlanta. IMC’s mission is to build and operate an innovative, sustainable, profitable and scalable platform for the furniture, gift, home décor, rug, and apparel industries. For more information, visit http://imcenters.com/.

About IMC_di: IMC Digital Innovations (IMC_di) is a stand-alone division of International Market Centers (IMC), the world’s largest operator of premier showroom space for the home furnishings, gift, and apparel industries. Launched in January 2020, IMC_di will build an industry-changing platform including a global B2B e-commerce marketplace, a full suite of integrated marketing and sales automation software and smart showroom tools. With bold people and bold ambitions — and by investing as much as $100 million — IMC_di will change and grow the industries IMC serves.