Ad Hoc Atelier
How artisan fashion marketplace Ad Hoc Atelier used Onport to give visibility to bespoke Italian brands.
We know Onport is crucial because it removes the need to manually update feeds ourselves. When we upload products, I know that everything is being taken care of and that we don’t have to worry about things like changes in order quantities.
Giovanni Friggi
Co-Founder
What inspired you to create an online fashion marketplace?
So during the lockdown, I was in Barcelona, doing my masters with two friends and we saw that ecommerce was booming but realized that Italy is a country that always falls behind when it comes to ecommerce. The term Made in Italy carries a lot of prestige abroad but Italian companies have always struggled to adapt to digital transformation so we decided to change things. We ended up interviewing many potential partners, 20 - 30 and from there we kept onboarding new partners and then got some funding to help bring the marketplace online.
What value do you feel marketplaces give to fashion brands?
What we have seen is that many Italian brands artisan brands don’t have the know-how when it comes to getting online and they remain tied to their traditional channels - since we work just on commission, they see the opportunity to showcase their products on a highly valuable platform which shares their beliefs and values as well as the possibility to sell abroad. We have over nearly 100 partners so far and plan to reach 150 by the year's end.
What value do you feel marketplaces give to consumers?
I believe that the products that we are selling are nearly impossible to find in a normal shop, especially for customers outside of Italy, for instance in Germany. I think marketplaces give customers the opportunity to find products that are unique, sustainable, and durable - I feel customers are increasingly searching for those features and turning away from fast fashion, even if that means paying more.
How did you first come across or hear about Onport?
So before using Onport, we once had a situation where an order had been placed but the item wasn’t available - one of our partners told us about how they used Onport to manage their operations so we decided to try it out. Onport has always worked very well for us, and we can see the value we get for the price as Onport is vital to our business model.
How do you feel Onport has aided your overall performance, in which areas did you see the most improvement
Up to now, I feel like we have yet to use Onport to its full potential, we primarily use it for inventory optimization as we have integrated with partners and manage their stock. We do plan to make use of the shipping and returns management functions within the coming months but at the moment, we mainly use the inventory management function as it’s crucial to us, especially for some of our high volume brands.
How well do you feel that Onport allows you to respond quickly to changes in your market?
The biggest added value of Onport is that everything is automatic - our feeds are continuously updated and respond automatically to our partner inventory feeds so we know that Onport is crucial because it removes the need to manually update feeds ourselves. When we upload products, I know that everything is being taken care of and that we don’t have to worry about things like changes in order quantities.
Download the How Onport Empowered Ad Hoc Atelier to Promote Bespoke Brands case study PDF
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