How Flipsnack Helps Repair the Retail and Wholesale Disconnect with Intelligent Digital Catalogs

Retail and wholesale commerce rely on catalog workflows, yet Adrian Moza, CEO of Flipsnack, observes that this process is often far more manual than most leaders realize. "Often, retailers and wholesale distributors are not very digitized; they're using old systems that may not be user-friendly," he says, pointing to product data that sits in spreadsheets and PDFs that pass between distributors, agents, and partners as dynamic systems. The friction this creates can be constant, with slow updates, version confusion, design bottlenecks, and operational delays that can affect revenue across the supply chain.

Janina Moza, CMO of Flipsnack, frames this as a systems communication issue instead of one driven by a lack of technology. "Retailers often struggle because their data doesn't speak to the tools they use to sell. They implement catalogs that become static documents, instead of living commercial assets," she says.

Despite the growth of consumer-facing e-commerce, Janina notes that many B2B retail and wholesale processes remain underdigitalized. "Catalog creation for companies managing thousands of Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) can take months of manual design work. A simple pricing change can trigger rounds of edits and approvals across multiple stakeholders," she explains. Industry research indicates that 70% of retailers lose at least 5% operating margin to in-store inefficiencies as traditional systems increase the risk of outdated pricing and ordering errors.

Flipsnack, a digital flipbook converter, addresses this problem by reimaging the catalog itself. Instead of treating catalogs as a design deliverable, the company enables companies to have a cohesive database in the form of creative digital flipbooks, turning static and outdated PDFs into dynamic digital catalogs, brochures, or magazines.

Founded in 2011, the company embodies automation, converting data sourced from CSV files and cloud databases into digital publications. "Extensive product lines, complete with SKUs, descriptions, and pricing, can be transformed into a fully designed, interactive digital catalog within a short span of time," Janina explains. The system is designed to pull directly from the data source, removing the need for manual layout work.

"If a company updates a price in their spreadsheet, the catalog is already updated," Adrian says. "There's no redesign, no redistribution, no confusion about versions. You share a link, and everyone sees the current reality of the business."

Such a capability can be beneficial for wholesalers and retailers, managing frequent pricing changes or seasonal inventory shifts. In Adrian's view, PDF-based workflows often demand repeated design intervention, which may involve internal teams or external agencies. This, in his view, increases turnaround time. Flipsnack aims to eliminate that design bottleneck, which may otherwise be necessary to keep catalogs accurate.

Expanding on that efficiency, the platform also integrates shopping order forms to allow partners to place orders directly through the catalog. "Email-based product requests can often introduce delays and errors," Adrian shares. "The biggest inefficiencies in wholesale are often these small, repeated frictions, such as emails, corrections, and clarifications, that compound across hundreds of transactions. Removing those frictions can have a measurable financial effect."

According to Adrian, a significant barrier to digital adoption in retail and wholesale lies in the complexity of existing systems across multiple parties, often operating in different countries and platforms. He notes that many companies continue using outdated workflows simply because they are familiar and dependable under tight timelines. Flipsnack's model addresses this by working with the tools businesses already rely on.

"We realized early on that asking businesses to change their entire system was unrealistic," Adrian says. "So, we built a solution that starts from what they already have, their spreadsheets, their PDFs, and turns that into something intelligent without disrupting their process."

Flipsnack accommodates both plug-and-play templates and fully custom catalog designs. "The platform encompasses a wide range of professionally designed templates, which give clients the autonomy to modify the existing presets or make a design of their own," Janina says. In this process, brands can maintain visual identity while benefitting from automation.

Adrian believes that the broader challenge in the retail and wholesale industry is perceptual. "As long as catalogs are seen as documents, companies will keep experiencing these bottlenecks," he notes. "Once they're seen as data-driven systems, the entire supply chain can become faster, cleaner, and more responsive."

Today, customers may increasingly expect real-time accuracy online, and within that context, backend retail and wholesale infrastructure can no longer afford slow and manual workflows. Flipsnack's approach underscores that meaningful digital transformation in e-commerce does not necessarily require new platforms, but a rethinking of how existing data can be reimaged across commercial touchpoints.