Playologie is the largest professional platform 100% dedicated to the children’s and maternity universe. Available in 7 languages, it offers buyers the possibility to order the best collections via one single, beautifully organised  spot. Working as a virtual trade show, Playologie allows brands to reach all markets instantaneously, and to commercialise their collections 24h/24 7j/7.

Repost from January 2015 – Wether you speak French, English, German, Spanish, Russian, Japanese or Korean, Playologie is olny one click away. More than a simple virtual trade show, Playologie is a veritable secure B2B work platform to discover the brand’s latest collections. The concept is based on free access for buyers, adapted, no-commission formulas for the brands. User-friendly, it displays fashion, layette, furniture, gifts, toys, home decor.  A fantastic way for users to save time and to optimize their business.

A long experience at the service of this sector

The birth of Playologie is, above all, a family story. Behind this new project you’ll find Sébastien de Hutten and Marie Czapska (brother and sister in real life,) the duo behind the Playtime professional trade shows. Launched in 2007 in Paris, Playtime quickly became the bi-annual, cannot-miss destination for the children’s and maternity universes (fashion, décor, design, layette, maternity). Driven by a strong demand on an international level, Playtime launched in Tokyo in 2009, and then in New York in 2010, thereby constituting the world’s largest professional network for trade fairs dedicated to these sectors.
©Pierrot Marie et Sebastien of Playologie
Marie and Sebastien of Playologie

With a steady eye on the market and its evolution, Sébastien de Hutten and Marie Czapska leveraged their sector expertise to come up with Playologie, a digital order-taking tool designed to encourage a new model of collaboration for the market’s actors; one that is simultaneously more fluid and more instantaneous. In a constantly mutating market, Playologie was conceived to fulfill a real need of sector professionals to have at their disposal a powerful tool to centralize and master every aspect of their commercial activity.

Playologie in motion

Four brands give their feedback about Playologie

Laura Eckerman, owner of Velveteen
As a small brand that doesn’t have showrooms or retail locations around the world just yet, I find that Playologie is a great tool that helps us manage our collection presentations and easily provide interested buyers with a detailed view of the available collections. Rather than spending valuable time on manually developed line sheet files and low resolution images; with Playologie, we now send our buyers a link to access our Playologie portal where they have multiple high resolution images of each product and all the detailed order and price information they need in one place. It’s a real time saver and an improved selling tool.
We’re really just getting ready to use Playologie to its full capacity starting with this next collection and I plan to consolidate all of our sales activities into Playologie starting with the January shows. Rather than using manual order sheets, we’ll be able to input new orders directly into the Playologie iPad application and send order confirmations directly from the show – saving time and possible errors along the way.
Whether or not a virtual trade show is the wave of the future remains to be seen. However, for now, Playologie is a great tool that we’re using alongside our other showroom and trade show activities. I still think it makes a huge difference for buyers to be able to touch and feel our collections – the high quality of fabrics and details must be experienced in person. However, for many of our return buyers who already know our quality, I’m seeing that they’re more comfortable adding onto their existing orders or re-ordering previous collections through Playologie – It makes that step much more streamlined.
Katje Sandra, owner of Max et Lola
We joined Playologie for many obvious reasons :
1/ It is an efficient tool, fast, clear and easy to use
2/ We like the fact that it creates a direct and easy way to communicate with our clients
3/ Managing orders become easy and simple
4/ Frontiers no longer exist : we can sell everywhere
5/ Reorders are immediate as buyers can see what’s available in real time
6/ Byers can easily access all product categories, and all sort of precious information : prices, high quality images, where the products are manufactured, material used, etc. All this is accessible from any location, at any time.
7/ We can use Playologie to take orders at the shows, and it is very easy to make changes.
We are big fans!
Philip Thompson, owner of Waddler
The reason I signed up is because Playologie is something we have been thinking about offering ourselves for 3 or 4 years – the possibility for our wholesale buyers to place their orders online – thereby reducing endless excel forms etc. Also offering us better stats on which products, colours etc are selling best. But it would have been very expensive to customise something like this for us – not really justifiable. Playologie is the perfect solution then – especially as it works in tandem with our most important trade fair.

In terms of brand development, it reinforces the notion of Waddler as something niche yet very much global. combining tradition and artisan skill with the best of technology.

We can’t wait to introduce our clients to Playologie (next week). I imagine many of our customers in distant markets – Korea, Japan the US – will certainly take advantage. For the smaller boutiques it’s difficult to visit the trade fairs so this will suit them perfectly.

Playologie is a fantastic idea and that I think it will be a big success!

Cécile Charrier, Coq en pâte
We have chosen to join Playologie, because it will allow our resellers to access an ergonomic catalog of our collections with all information they need, all concentrated at the same place.
This multi-brand platform also will also allow them to use the same website for to work with hundreds of brands, with one single login, which means lots of time spare time for our clients or future clients.
The ability to take orders at the shows via tablets is also a real plus.
It it is now essential to have a website for professionals. We already have a website for our resellers, where they can download our catalogs and visuals, but they do not have possibility to order. Playologie gives buyers the possibility to discover our collections, and to order safely with all the required information : product information, delivery date, stock availability.
The interface of the site is very well thought out for the customer, and the back office has already undergone several changes making its use even easier.

Furthermore, Playologie allows specific access for our agents and their customers which is a real plus to concentrate all the information within a single platform.
We can’t wait to get the latest version of Playologie, especially the ipad version, and to start using it directly with clients at Playtime Paris.

Playologie, source of inspiration

Because fashion and trends go hand-in-hand with art, each season Playologie will hand the design of its interface over to an artist whose work echoes the collections being presented. Playologie can also be used as a source of inspiration where one can visit to check the pulse of the marketplace.

This saison, Playologie welcomes artist Aurélie Mathigot. Pursuing an artistic approach that questions the notions of overabundance, overwhelming, and time slipping away, Aurélie Mathigot uses techniques that call for a lot of time in their execution, usually used by craftsmen; and precise skills such as embroidery, crocheting, basket weaving, ceramics and even sculpting wood.

In 2011, Mathigot was awarded the Grand Prix for Creation by the city of Paris, in the Métiers d’Art, (Craftsmanship) section, for her work using embroidery and crochet on photographs. Using a background of photos printed onto canvas, she embroiders, sews, applies sequins and bits of silk, cotton or metallic thread…. The result is then stretched to give it tension and stiffness, thereby catapulting the creation into the domain of “seeing” and not just “touching”. By associating sight with tactility, her pieces are transformed into paintings where the image comes alive with intensely layered matter.

Playologie for brands

Playologie is a true eco-system that integrates all of the sales processes, and is divided on the site into two essential sections: “New Collections” and “Immediate Delivery.” A mirror of the brand’s commercial organisation (the geographical breakdown of agents and distributors) the platform gives a collection immediate international visibility.

All exchanges with buyers are instantaneous: orders, discounts, messages, history, exports, statistics, etc. A series of simple and efficient tools, all within an interface that is agreeable to use and secured.

A WORLDWIDE NETWORK OF QUALIFIED BUYERS – The brands signed up on Playologie will benefit from annual visibility in an unequalled database of international buyers who are 100% professional, as they have been selected and verified by our teams in order to guarantee quality. It is also possible to invite one’s own buyers to use Playologie.

A BETTER PERFORMING COMMERCIAL SEASON – Grouping all the elements linked to a brand’s commercial development (communication, marketing, ordering, messages, etc.) Playologie frees sales teams from these time-consuming tasks and enables them to work simultaneously on the same platform while also individually manage their client portfolios.

FREE ACCESS FOR SALES REPRESENTATIVES – Sales reps have accounts dedicated to their geographical sectors that they can manage with full autonomy, and the validated orders will come directly to the brand.

SALES ALL YEAR LONG – The “Immediate Delivery” section, with its integrated stock management, allows brands to master their complete distribution cycle, and offers a supplementary possibility to open new accounts around the world.

TAILOR-MADE COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT – Each brand can personalise its commercial parameters according to its needs: prices and quotes adapted to each market, size charts, sales and delivery periods, geographical breakdown of agents and distributors, sales conditions…

ONE CATALOGUE, MANY SUPPORTS – For supplementary visibility, a brand can export the entirety of its collections in the form of a PDF catalogue that can be printed or sent directly to a buyer right from Playologie.

SHOWING A BRAND’S UNIVERSE IN ITS BEST LIGHT – The brand will have at its disposal a public profile page for a complete presentation: history, website, social media, lookbook, marketing elements, trade fair calendar, videos…

AN iPAD APPLICATION: EFFICIENT ANYWHERE, ANYTIME – Be it at a fair or at a buying appointment, the iPad Playologie app enables the presentation of a collection and the placing of orders, online as well as offline. It allows the entire worldwide commercial network to instantly benefit from up-to-date product information for immediate ordering.

Playologie for buyers

Playologie offers buyers free access to a selection of the moment’s best international collections in children’s and maternity fashion, furniture, design, gifts, layette and toys. A transversal offer that responds to the needs of today’s market.

With its advanced e-business functionalities, Playologie optimises the buying process. Buyers can hunt down the latest trends, uncover the products that make the difference, dialogue with brands and group their purchases.

THE ABSOLUTE TOOL FOR BUYERS – Look at collections from every angle and at your own rhythm, discover and contact numerous international brands, follow your usual suppliers, order and manage your purchases all year long, 24h/24.

CUT STRAIGHT TO THE CHASE – Though one can randomly navigate collections on Playologie, one can also cut straight to the chase by selecting a particular universe or brand. Users can “favorite” items and brands so that they can be quickly and easily found again by a buyer or his/her team.

CHILDS PLAY – Playologie is a platform that can be used by anyone, one that is extremely complete yet simple to use. The product information is ultra-detailed (photos, colors, prints, sizes, fabric composition, bio…) and allows for enlightened buying in just a few clicks.

PREPARE AND OPTIMIZE YOUR TRADE FAIRS – Before, during and after the event, a buyer can see the collections and order at any moment. If it is impossible to visit all of the trade fairs all over the world, Playologie will be an efficient complement to the usual buying process.

NO MORE JETLAG – Fewer trips, fewer expenses, less fatigue! Playologie allows buyers to manage costs while remaining up-to-date with the latest global trends. For the many brands that do not show at fairs, Playologie will become the cannot-miss destination to discover them.

MEMBERSHIP CARD – A Playologie membership card will be sent to each buyer, with an individual security key. This will allow the buyer to place an order for a brand that is signed up with Playologie, whether they are at the fair or at a showroom appointment, and find it later in their history.

SUNGLASSES – Playologie offers its buyer members unlimited, free and secure access. No harassing, protected information, and an à la carte service between professionals.

www.playologie.com

PARIS paris@playologie.com – TOKYO tokyo@playologie.com – NEW YORK newyork@playologie.com