JOOR PASSPORT

JOOR was the first and largest global industry-standard fashion wholesale platform, driving innovation through digital transformation with 12,500 brands, 300k retailers, and $45B+ in GMV. In 2020, we launched JOOR PASSPORT, a digital marketplace that aggregated leading fashion tradeshows and events, enabling retailers to discover and connect with brands virtually through a single JOOR login. The platform featured advanced search functionality, curated categories, and an engaging interface to facilitate seamless interactions between brands and buyers. It also played a critical role in ensuring business continuity for brands and retailers during the pandemic.

Key Features of JOOR Passport

• Virtual Tradeshows: JOOR Passport powered various global fashion events, introducing a virtual component that extended their timeframe and geographic reach, allowing buyers worldwide to connect with participating brands.

• Enhanced Product Presentation: Brands showcased their collections using high-resolution imagery, videos, and 360° product displays, enabling buyers to confidently evaluate products and make informed purchasing decisions.

• Streamlined Connections: The platform allowed brands to pre-approve connection requests from registered retailers, ensuring efficient access to linesheets and pricing information.

• Global Reach: By participating in multiple events on JOOR Passport, brands extended their reach to a diverse audience of retailers, facilitating new partnerships and expanding market presence.

Since its inception, JOOR Passport hosted over 95 digital fashion events, attracting nearly 500,000 retail visitors from 172 countries and facilitating the sale of almost 1 million products by over 4,200 designers. With 2,350 interactions between brands and retailers daily, JOOR Passport served as a comprehensive digital solution for the fashion wholesale industry, enabling seamless virtual connections and efficient business operations.

The Challenges

JOOR operated with a high-touch service model, relying heavily on Customer Service, Data, and Product Support teams to perform manual work for clients. In The Build Trap, author Melissa Perri categorizes startups like JOOR as “The Man Behind the Curtain.” JOOR presented a facade of innovation and customer-centric service but lacked genuine user engagement and data-driven decision-making. It appeared product-led, but decisions were often made without validation or a clear understanding of user needs.

JOOR Data Team

To users, tasks seemed to be completed effortlessly, as if by magic. Behind the scenes, however, large teams manually uploaded vast amounts of data that had to be cleaned and standardized through complex scripts before being integrated into JOOR’s strict database format.

Customer Service

Lengthy onboarding and training sessions were conducted for each new account, with Customer Service representatives “training the trainer.” Due to the platform’s lack of user-friendliness and the complexity of features, users often relied heavily on Product Support while training themselves. Even before training began, Customer Service manually created accounts, added users, and ensured the first round of product data was uploaded correctly.

Product Support

The Product Support team had access to user accounts, data, and feature flags that customized account experiences. They were responsible for resolving issues and bugs that disrupted workflows, particularly during Market events.

A Self-Service Challenge

The JOOR platform lacked meaningful self-service functionality. The launch of JOOR Passport required a dramatic shift: onboarding tasks, such as registering new accounts and uploading product data, had to become user-driven. For first-time users, even creating an order was daunting without prior training. Supporting this level of independence without engaging internal resources was a significant challenge.

An intellectual property challenge

The fashion industry, particularly luxury brands, operates with a highly secretive product development process, going to great lengths to keep new collections under wraps. To address this, JOOR enables brands to control which buyers can access their products, safeguarding intellectual property. While this manual process worked in traditional settings, it proved unfeasible within a fast-paced trade show environment. The launch of JOOR Passport required automating these permissions to ensure a seamless and secure experience for brands and buyers alike.

Time Constraints

The biggest hurdle? We had just one month to design, build, and launch JOOR Passport.

The Approach

With limited time, I engaged essential leadership from each service team, making them partners in the design process. Alongside my product manager and engineering counterparts, we conducted interviews with team leaders to identify the most challenging tasks to transition to self-service. Key questions included:

• Where were the highest call volumes?

• Which tasks caused users the most confusion or friction?

We collaborated on user flows and documented use cases in real time using FigJam. This effort marked JOOR’s most engaging cross-team collaboration and established our first true Product Trio (Product, Design, and Engineering). The interviews revealed underutilized self-service features that had been abandoned over time.

Prioritization and Design Execution

The Product Trio inventoried rediscovered self-service features and prioritized feasible updates within tight time constraints:

• Retailer Registration: I conducted a heuristic review and updated the UI for seamless new customer registration.

• Shopping Flow: I created a basic shopping flow modeled after traditional trade show interactions, leveraging a familiar conceptual model for faster adoption.

• Content Management Tools: We purchased tools enabling brand users to customize their storefronts for trade shows.

We adopted a mobile-first approach for the first time, ensuring the experience was flexible and accessible on any device.

The Impact

The launch of JOOR Passport in 2020 had a transformative impact, helping retailers and brands transition seamlessly to a digital-first approach during the pandemic.

Retailer-Initiated Orders

The platform saw a 124% increase in retailer-initiated orders year-over-year, with significant growth beginning in May 2020. This surge aligned with key virtual trade show events powered by JOOR Passport and demonstrated the platform’s ability to replicate and enhance traditional ordering experiences.

Retailer Logins

Engagement soared with an 182% year-over-year increase in retailer logins. Retailers embraced the platform as a daily tool, with logins spiking in May and remaining consistently high throughout the year, reflecting sustained adoption and satisfaction.

Driving Business Continuity

JOOR Passport provided stability during a period of immense disruption and redefined how retailers discovered products and placed orders:

1. Increased Platform Utilization: Spikes in logins and orders underscored the platform’s indispensability.

2. Digital Transformation: Retailers transitioned to digital workflows, marking a lasting behavioral shift.

3. Scalability of Self-Service Features: UX improvements empowered retailers to perform traditionally manual tasks independently, reducing reliance on high-touch support.

Key Features Added Post-Launch

• Virtual Showroom: Introduced 3D product images, designer interviews, and runway videos. 360° Model Walkthroughs: Highlighted garment drape and movement.

• The Edit: I turned a standard aspect of the IRL buying process—surveying a rack of goods for purchase and assessing whether the assortment was sufficient—into a digital experience.

• Styleboard Tool: A visual merchandising feature for buyers and designers to collaborate on collections.

• Enhanced Brand Profiles: Customizable profiles became robust selling tools.

• Data Tools: Provided insights into retailer engagement metrics.

A Redefinition of "Market" in 2020

The launch of JOOR Passport didn’t just drive engagement—it fundamentally changed the way the fashion wholesale market operated.

Key Changes

• Extended Timeline: The traditional four-week Summer Market expanded to six months, offering brands and retailers unprecedented flexibility.

• Digital Trade Shows: Enabled global connections without geographic constraints.

• Virtual Showroom Appointments: Became the norm, redefining how business was conducted.

• Dynamic Market Appointments: Appointments occurred on a rolling basis as collections became available, breaking free from rigid schedules.

This transformation laid the groundwork for a more agile, digital-first wholesale approach, driving sustained engagement and sales throughout the year.

Passport in the press

Read more case studies:

Building a Design Practice with DesignOps Excellence

Transforming Wholesale: JOOR PASSPORT