Inline, Online, Off

Prada Suits Everybody: Delightful Original Film

I have little to add to this other than reiterating what we already know: Ben Kingsley is divinity.

Wonderful original short film for Prada. Now THIS is what original branded entertainment should be.

Gap Inc.’s Piperlime To Open Soho Store

You know I get all brand giddy whenever Gap comes up so I was delighted to hear from the Retail Customer Experience that Piperlime, the Gap Inc. e-tailer that launched in 2006, is opening its first brick-and-mortar location this fall in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City.

While there may be some truth in the theories that stores are becoming browsing galleries, social or entertainment venues rather than transactional ones, the pop-up trend and this news seems to defy that idea.

Jennifer Gosselin, SVP and GM of Piperlime, said in a press release, ”Our customers have been asking for a place where they can experience Piperlime in person, and New York is the perfect location for this.”

I can’t wait to check out the store and I hope the opening will pay special attention to training and creating an extraordinary level of customer service, which I think is the real opportunity here. 

Oh and while I’m in my happy place talking about Gap, I figured I’d re-share these 6 Lessons From Gap’s Mobile Journey to Date, which Dave Barrowman, Senior Director of Product Management shared at the Shop.org digital retail marketing workshop in SF recently. Interesting notes on multi-brand m-commerce, localization, and iterating.  

Siriano Talks The Talk On Social Video And His Brand

Aww we have always loved Christian Siriano (I still say one day Dior will be his). And whether it’s his Project Runway/reality TV kickstart or his digital native status, he totally gets the power of social media in fashion.

Luxury Daily’s report on social video from 2012 Fashion & Retail Market Report: What’s Working Now and Why conference, highlights Siriano’s experience and perspective on the diverse and democratizing effect on his label(s), saying, “There is the fan who is shopping my line at Payless and another buying a $15,000 dress at Neiman Marcus,” he said.”They are all in the same world on social media, which is a bit strange, but it is important to keep everything new and fresh daily.”

The article goes on to explain that social media is also a place where he sees fashion magazines, writers and department stores connecting with one another and cross-promoting content.

“Retailers can support designers,” Mr. Siriano said. “It is really going full-circle, which creates a new kind of shopping.”

Pin, Post, Pay: LuxeYard Launches Concierge Buying

“A Pinterest-like social product sharing experience, coupled with a powerful e-commerce engine similar to Gilt and Groupon” is how LuxeYard CTO Jerry Wilkerson describes the new site feature called Concierge Buying.

The flash sale/daily deal site aims to monetize social networking and collaborative consumption by allowing consumers to suggest and vote on what luxury fashion and homewares should be featured in private sale events.

Basically, site members can upload pictures of products they like using a browser bookmarklet (a la Pinterest) and once the rest of the community has liked, followed, and commented on an item en masse, the company’s buyers get to work, brokering deals directly with the suppliers to place orders for almost exactly the quantity of product they anticipate selling. 

In theory, it’s an incredibly effective supply and demand strategy that would turn e-commerce —and certainly retail on its head. I just can’t help thinking it’s an incredibly ambitious and rather risky strategy. Of course, those are sometimes the best strategies so this is definitely one to watch. 

Read more from their press release via MarketWatch.