OUTDOOR RETAILER & ODI | JUNE 18-20, 2025

SALT PALACE CONVENTION CENTER – SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

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OUTDOOR RETAILER & ODI
JUNE 18-20, 2025

SALT PALACE CONVENTION CENTER
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

Feb 8, 2021 | Commerce + Retail Magazine OR Magazine Digital Edition

Virtual Flexibility
By Bevin Wallace


Emerald Acquires ElasticSuite Platform


When Outdoor Retailer host company Emerald announced it had acquired Plum River LLC and its Elastic Suite platform, some wondered if it was a signal that OR was not going to have in-person events and this new platform would ultimately replace them.

However, according to Marisa Nicholson, Outdoor Retailer’s show director, that is not the plan. “There is such a desire in this community to be in person and to come together,” she says.“Our goal was really to support our customers with these digital tools that everyone is looking to quickly adopt.”

The acquisition will accelerate Emerald’s strategy to provide year-round engagement for its customers regardless of location by significantly expanding its digital-commerce capabilities. “Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for our retailers to get their business done—without a bunch of different tools—and obviously that makes it very efficient for the brands here too,” says Nicholson.

Elastic Suite’s B2B platform streamlines the wholesale buying process for brands and retailers, bridges the gap between sellers’ order-processing systems, and allows brands to sell directly to their buyers using print-free digital product catalogs and merchandising technology.

This digital transactional platform enables clients to increase their efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability, and profitability. “We’re basically eliminating paper catalogs,” Nicholson says.

“Incredible brands have already been using this powerful B2B and digital catalog platform, with more adopting it every day,” says Nicholson. “The pandemic has merely accelerated both the interest and adoption rate for brands and retailers to partner Elastic.”

For some retailers, the platform has already been helpful.

“The ability use Elastic alongside a showing to pull together assortments, whiteboards, and product-data information has been a huge time saver this past season,” says Chelsea Prager, retail buyer for Alterra. “I look forward to using Elastic in conjunction with live product showings in the future.”

 

 

Read The February 2021 Edition

 

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