Amidst growing complexity in the supply chain, fueled by crisis after crisis, one has to wonder - how do we keep products flowing? With disruptions around every corner, impacting every industry, it takes expertise to get the right product to the right customer at the right time. Thriving in this era requires managing inventory effectively so you can save time and money. 

In April 2020, we released the first version of Marketplace to address supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic – in particular, for foodservice distributors who wanted to reroute their volume to retailers as restaurants stopped operating. We built it very quickly with initial functionality focused on communication. For example, users could post to buyers, sellers, or freight boards, and comment and message other users. Designed to add resilience, it was a new way for buyers and suppliers to connect not just to match supply with demand but also to discover new partners and establish new trading relationships. 

With demand growing, I am pleased to announce Marketplace 2.0 is now available! We’ve upgraded it with key features for buyers and sellers to interact - powered by a more modern e-commerce platform. And backed by our incredibly powerful network, suppliers can get their products in front of the biggest retailers and buyers can expand their supplier relationships to get locally sourced goods faster.

Starting from the homepage, we’ve created a more modern and intuitive e-commerce platform with full-fledged company profiles. We’ve also added more integrations like iTradeOrder and OMS for catalog sharing and PO generation.

For Buyers, we’ve made it easier to discover/certify new trading partners, discover and compare product features, conduct research on new market trends and set up product alerts to receive recommendations and notifications of products they are interested in.

For Suppliers, we’ve added direct integration with produce bluebook and OMS to automatically display financial and trade practices ratings for suppliers, catalog integration with OMS to easily manage product listings and make it effortless to discover their products and find buyers not within their network.

Marketplace 2.0  has even more powerful features to boost your experience:

  • Enhanced Catalog Management: Suppliers can upload catalogs with relevant product details and availability; Sellers can customize their product listings.
  • Product Recommendations: Customized recommendations to find what you need faster based on your products of interest.
  • Dynamic Search: Enhanced filters to quickly find what you need, filter by supplier ratings, price thresholds, distance and more.
  • Product Comparisons and Alerts: Compare products side-by-side, set alerts for products and categories and get notified when matches are found. 

One silver lining of the pandemic: it brought into sharp focus that creating growth and shared value requires creativity and connectivity. With today’s market dynamics you need solutions that provide scalability and flexibility so you can quickly respond to fluctuating needs. At iTradeNetwork, we stand ready to help you build supply chain resilience, no matter the disruption.