The Challenge
The experts in pop culture products, BIOWORLD sells licensed apparel, accessories, gifts and home goods wholesale to mass retailers, mid-tier retailers and specialty stores, and also has direct-to-consumer channels selling innovative licensed products. BIOWORLD supports and complements the brand stories of the customers’ favorite characters through the licensed products they create. Working in licensed products means BIOWORLD must be able to react at near-Internet speed to keep up with shifts in pop culture, as well as have maximum flexibility in all aspects of their business. “BIOWORLD’s work in licensed products means we have a 365 day model rather than seasons. We have to be able to jump on a trend on any day of the week, and EDITED is a great partner to prove concepts, ideas, and find that white space!” said Sarah Mooney, Creative Director, Accessories.
BIOWORLD’s clients rely on the BIOWORLD team to stay on top of trends and provide them with products their customers crave. The BIOWORLD design, product, and sales teams must spot trends, and then dig into the products behind those trends. EDITED Research provides retail and runway reports created by industry analysts and backed by EDITED data to provide targeted and timely market information. The reports, coupled with EDITED’s Market Analytics platform, lets BIOWORLD find opportunities for product expansion, globally and locally.
“EDITED has global data…That lets us look at global markets to spot where trends are coming from. In licensing, we need to see performance relative to other brands, growth, and assortment. For example, we will look at Japan for new trends, to see how goods hold space and perform over time compared to other brands.” – Nate Grant, Vice President, Growth
“In design, it is defining and prioritizing the assortments and designing to the set target price points. In sales, the data helps us assess where the assortment belongs for discussions with retailers, and not just for a specific retailer, but also to see where there’s opportunity across the whole market” explained Nate Grant, Vice President, Growth. “As an example, we used the EDITED Market Intelligence technology to show a client that they owned the market in terms of SKUs (of tee shirts), but not in terms of diversity in category. We used the data to highlight that competitors had a broader range of product types and were selling their tees at a higher price. This motivated our client to broaden their assortment.”
BIOWORLD is always working to find the gaps in competitor assortments, see what products are hot and what products have frequent stockouts, and find opportunities for BIOWORLD’s wholesale customers. “We met with a major giftware client whose apparel line was highly male-centered. Their buyers said that they wanted to bring in women’s apparel as there was growing demand in-store, and they asked us for input,” said Keiko Yoon, Creative Director, Juniors Apparel. “We got an EDITED retail report on women’s apparel which detail the shift away from just tees during the pandemic to more fashion-driven bottoms, camisoles, and skirts for going out. The information in that article supported us to develop a women’s product line for this client.”
“We’re able to use EDITED Market Intelligence data to show our customers what licensed characters are trending and help them plan their assortments to have the right product in place when the customer wants to buy.”
The Solution
BIOWORLD has been using EDITED’s Market intelligence technology and has drawn upon EDITED’s data-backed research reports written by expert analysts for over six years. EDITED’s daily retail reports help BIOWORLD find new trends and react quickly to create fresh products, finding the white space in the market. The reports created by EDITED’s team of Retail Analysts provide BIOWORLD with up-to-the-minute international style and trend developments based on EDITED’s vast storehouse of retail market data. “Our business is very competitive and very fast. We use EDITED data to give us an overview and timeline as we track specific retailers, item types, and gender. EDITED gives us the big picture,” said Keiko Yoon, Creative Director, Juniors Apparel
EDITED’s Market Intelligence analytics tools allow the Creative team to dig into the products behind those trends to find the market opportunities for BIOWORLD’s wholesale customers. “EDITED tells us what fans are looking for in a product. EDITED gives us a view on products and assortments, and from that data we can see where the retailers are getting influence from in licensed products,” said Nate Grant, Vice President, Growth. “That lets us determine what the offer is that will make sense for clients and customers.”
EDITED’s Market Intelligence AI engine collects, tracks, categorizes, and normalizes key market data. The EDITED Market Intelligence technology helps the BIOWORLD sales team analyze their customers’ (and potential customers’) products, assortments, and pricing. The BIOWORLD team can track competitor pricing and discounts over time, as well as compare pricing architectures by assortment or category. “Before any meeting with a customer or license partner we use EDITED data to prepare for the meeting. Our customers depend upon BIOWORLD to provide them with salable product,” commented Nate Grant, Vice President, Growth. “For example, we use EDITED data to assess a new retailer, and get background and an overview of what works for them in store.”
This data supports BIOWORLD to better understand their customer, and to get the right BIOWORLD products to that customer to optimize full-price sell-through. “We’re able to use EDITED Market Intelligence data to show our customers what licensed characters are trending and help them plan their assortments to have the right product in place when the customer wants to buy.” – Sarah Mooney, Creative Director, Accessories.
