The Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman banners of Saks Global have partnered with NuOrder by Lightspeed, a business-to-business digital marketplace connecting retail buyers and vendors in real time.
The Saks Fifth Avenue division of Saks Global has been tapped into the NuOrder platform for five years. Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman had been using the Joor B2B marketplace, a competitor to NuOrder, but Saks Global is integrating its operations across divisions and cutting expenses.
NuOrder’s technology provides virtual showrooms for retail buyers to review and order merchandise, helping them make decisions faster with suppliers. NuOrder has about 4,000 brands on its platform, 26 percent of which operate in the luxury space, according to Chris Akrimi, general manager of NuOrder by Lightspeed.
“Retailers are rethinking their wholesale strategies to become more precise, profitable and brand aligned,” said Akrimi. “By expanding our partnership to include Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Global is reinforcing its commitment to smarter buying, faster go-to-market timelines, and delivering assortments that meet the moment.”
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With NuOrder, Akrimi said, Saks has reduced the time to create purchase orders by 90 percent. NuOrder says it reduces operational costs for retailers, and makes it faster and easier for buying teams to plan and manage assortments across hundreds of brands. NuOrder also provides data on bestselling colors, styles, sizes and recommendations on how to distribute orders by doors.
“We are not trying to take away the physical attributes of the brand-retail relationships. We are trying to enhance them and to be a partner,” Akrimi said. “We are that partner, post the appointments in the showroom, where they can finish off all of their buying appointments. So that’s absolutely critical. And a lot of it comes down to operational efficiency.”
Akrimi said a large portion of Saks’ business is driven through NuOrder, though he declined to specify.
NuOrder alos helps Saks Global personalize assortments. “The way we’re helping that is we have data, we have AI, and we have imagery that drive those assortments by location, which is incredibly important,” Akrimi said. “Therefore Saks can focus on their end consumer. West Coast customers versus East Coast customers are completely different.”
NuOrder gets paid by Saks Global and other retailers through an annual subscription based on how many brands the retailer works with on NuOrder, the number of users inside the retailer and level of data provided. Nordstrom, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s also use NuOrder.
Lightspeed, the Montreal-based commerce platform, acquired NuOrder for about $425 million in 2021, to further its B2B offerings. Lightspeed helps merchants simplify, scale and provide better customer experiences. Its cloud solution unifies online and physical operations, multichannel sales, expansion to new locations, global payments, financing and connection to supplier networks.
