When
Content Meets
Commerce: Shoppable Magazines Have
Arrived!
By Linda Peters, Senior Adviser, Ariadne Capital
I 32 entrepreneurcountry
n February 2011, founder of Net-a-Porter Natalie Massenet told the Financial Times; “Media companies are going to become retailers and retailers are going to become media companies.” Fast-forward two years and Massenet’s predictions prove true, as announcements of new partnerships between media and e-commerce companies and emerging shoppable magazines are proliferating.
With a background as a fashion editor at both W and Tatler, Massenet confessed to the FT that it was always her ultimate ambition to be editor in chief of a magazine, so it’s not surprising that Net-a-Porter has announced the formation of a Media Division and has just launched EDIT, a weekly online magazine that is shoppable. They will also be publishing The Collections Special, a print magazine, starting later this year.
There is now a frenzy of media companies turning their traditional print
magazines and interesting partnerships are forming. Hearst Magazines UK has partnered with The Hut Group to create
fashion magazines into ‘shoppable’
The question is does the shoppable magazine feature drive customer acquisition and sales? It’s early stage; data is being collected and insights are being developed. The
UK Edit. Red magazine, owned by Hearst, has been an early mover in this space with Red Direct. Even Bauer Media’s weekly title Grazia is offering shoppable features on their iPad application. Newspapers are following suit too, with The Evening Standard recently introducing selected fashion pages that allow you to hover your smartphone or iPad over the featured fashion item, with the product tags appearing on your screen. You can then simply tap a tag and purchase the item directly from your device.
Pure-play e-commerce business models are also developing the shoppable magazine. Aside from Net-a-Porter, Gilt Groupe launched DuJour, a print and online magazine last year which is published quarterly and is online at dujour. com. DuJour targets a super wealthy audience and it positions the advertisers who want to reach them. Another example outside of fashion is The Longest Stay, a company that launched late last year using a shoppable magazine as their platform for selling designer home décor. Seeing furniture that you can buy in a gorgeous home setting allows the consumer to visualise how the piece would look in their home and to create a similar look and style.
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