Inline, Online, Off

There’s a Shopping Revolution Happening

via fastcompany:

There’s a shopping revolution happening—and it’s taking place in stores, online, deep inside your wallet, and everywhere else transactions have traction. From the way we spend money, to the things we spend it on, to the sales outlets themselves, consumers are wandering in a wonderland of buying potential. PayPal’s “digital wallet,” Amex’s slick socializing, Square’s disruptive tech, Warby Parker’s new way of selling eyeglasses, and Fab.com’s, well, fab design site represent just a few of the people and companies at the forefront of the movement—and the innovations powering the way we shop now.

reblogged from fastcompany

Your Very Own QVC? V-Commerce Is Heeeere

And there you were thinking F-commerce was de rigueur… While setting up shop on Facebook is yet to yield major sales for most merchandisers, verified YouTube publishers will soon be able to sell via the Merch Store and this, quite frankly, makes a lot more sense from a consumer mindset standpoint. 

Merch Store was initially rolled out in partnerships with music distributors and start-ups like iTUnes and the particularly fabulous Topspin. But according to AuctionBytes, “Over the next few months, YouTube publishers will see a new tab on their channel called “Store,” where they can choose merchandise to showcase to their viewers. “You’ll need to have an account with each company to list products on your channel, and clicking on the product will take you to the site where it’s for sale.”

So, while it won’t open up major new revenue channels for most beauty and apparel designers and bloggers, the bigger publishers (think: Glam, Gilt, Hearst, Conde et al) should be eyeing this very closely. When you couple existing behaviors around things like haul videos and styling how-tos with the ability to sell within the experience, I predict video commerce is going to significantly up the ante on commerce-driven-content. 

And if you’re a VC or you’re working at a start-up e-tailer or fashion site, I’d start loading up my basket with some of these eggs. 

Eataly Now Has a Beauty Section!

Ooooh we <3 Eataly too much already now this via birchbox:

Mario Batali’s New York City Italian piazza-style food spot, Eataly, has added a beauty department to the seemingly endless selection of gourmet wines, cheeses, pastas, and desserts. As devoted Eataly foodie fans (we stop by their pizza section and their upstairs open-air bar, Birreria, pretty darn frequently) we were totally stoked to find out that they’re adding a bevy of new beauty brands to their merchandise selection. We couldn’t resist, and had to stop by to get a better look. Click through to see pictures of the new section!

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reblogged from birchbox

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.”

Product Discovery Sites: Does The 1% Rule Still Apply?

Not to be confused with the super rich, the one percent we’re talking about makes up the fraction of an online community that creates content. For years, we’ve observed and designed experiences for creators, contributors, and lurkers. Knowing that only a core group of any community will be those aggressively participating (while most of the others will be more comfortable engaging in subtler social gestures such as liking, voting, rating, or mere presence), we’ve managed our own expectations for brand-building and scaling these enterprises. 

But having built UGC programs for years and for all types of audiences, I’ve always felt the fashion/shopper group defied this rule. And as I breeze through this list of the Five Social Curation Sites For Luxury Brands, I’m even more convinced of it. 

In 2006 I worked on a little start-up that was unfortunately before its time (board members couldn’t agree on the simplicity of the offering and we couldn’t convince them that “the point” of it outweighed the other shiny objects that were so distracting back then) but it was precisely what these so-called product discovery sites are: a way to visually bookmark and broadcast your things. 

For a fashion/shopping community the connection between things (wants, needs, haves or have to haves) and things you want to talk about (share) has always hinged on the ability to self-publish and broadcast, visually. It’s just been too cumbersome to do in the past. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure right now on Pinterest, for example, there is much more re-pinning (contributing) going on than original pinning (creating) but I’m convinced the Internet of Things (the connectivity/connectedness between the things in our homes and the things on the Web) is going to cause a wave of passive publishing and broadcasting that will tip the balance in favor of more creating, less lurking. 

Why does this matter? Right now, pretty pictures and browsable bookmarks is the trend but it’s subtly driving a new expectation among shoppers and tastemakers. Improved on-ramps and off-ramps to these websites, means more scale and more opportunities for brands, marketers, and publishers to make useful, meaningful, long-term content-driven communities. 

Meanwhile, I’m off to find a time machine so I can go back to 2006 and take some of my developer friends with me. Who’s in? This time, we’ll make millions, kids!

ShoeDazzle: Gives Up On Subscriptions And Clearly “Gets” Social

After just over a year of significant scaling, a ton of infrastructure, investment, and TV advertising, the celeb-spun subscription shoe shopping service is announcing a strategic shift. 

Adding apparel lines to its shoes and bags inventory, ShoeDazzle is offering its members the ability to buy what they want, when they want. 

Fast Company has an interview with the site’s CEO Bill Strauss about these changes and what inspired the shift. 

Now the question will be whether they can attract even more shoppers and get them to shop more often, without the big lines and labels most e-commerce fashion sites hang their hats on. 

Right now their fairly active Facebook fans have only shared a few comments about the end of subscriptions but it’s positive. Worth noting: from a CRM and communications standpoint, the brand is very active in responding to comments and suggestions from their subscribers. It’s sadly so rare that you see page admins (or brand admins) responding so frequently, telling people they’re on it, or that they’re going to pass along suggestions. 

This level of community management suggests that not only are they investing in social media in a smart way, they’re also more likely to be able pull off a massive shift in their core business without losing too many loyal fans. 

Men’s Luxury Market Growth Outperforming Women’s

As anyone who studies the space will confirm, dressing up in a downturn is nothing new: getting suited and booted to impress when the chance of losing it all is high has driven men’s fashion for centuries.

The gradual uptick at the checkout has been reported since 2009 among U.S. MBOs and boutiques and with the recent launch of menswear flash sales and luxury shopping sites, market analysts agree, “Men are back and they are spending.”

BBDO’s retail expert Stephen Wyss explains the seemingly lavish spending is especially prevalent in “things like scarves and belts and other accessories.” (Read more of the interview at Mediapost.)

Outside of the current economic factors forcing some men to step it up, I think it’s important to explore the shift over the last few decades in the way men shop.

A whole generation of men who have been brought up in single parent households during albeit better economic times, have grown up accompanying their moms, aunties and sisters on shopping trips, picking up a pointedly female skill- and need-set along the way. 

The challenge for brands is not to simply put more accessories in the right places around stores to increase the sale but to rethink the whole store experience.

Savvy retailers will borrow best practices from the Apple Store and Best Buy, while embedding a deep knowing of where those reflex points are — those moments when it suddenly all gets a bit too much and he wants to quit the touchyfeely, approval-craving, post-rationalizing, apparel purchase decision-making that is embraced by luxury women’s brands. 

Everything from the environmental design of a store and the way sales associates behave, to the fonts and copy on hangtags is being thought through. 

As we climb our way out of this economic crash and revolutions of industry shape our spending ability and notions of how, when, and where we work, the men’s luxury market will likely continue to lead — dare I say, the hundred years of jeans and tees may be coming to a close. 

Curated Collaborative Consumption Gets Gamified

Waaa. Brain explodes as social shopping buzzwords spill henceforth but here goes: @LittleBlackBag starts by reeling you in with a quiz to establish your fashion sense (not disimilar to ShoeDazzle et al.).

Next you are presented with a mystery bag of designer apparel and accessories curated by the sites stylists. Upon the big reveal, you have a week to rummage around the site to exchange pre-selected items for things you might prefer. Once the hunting and gathering is complete, your Little Black Bag (at varying pricepoints) is mailed to you — a bit like a Birchbox, if you will. 

I have to say, I love how they’ve positioned the offering: Shop, Swap, Ship:

Members get freebies for inviting friends (nice audience acquisition/growth strategy) and by keeping the swap process open for a week, they’re ensuring a healthy return rate. Clever stuff. I suppose it remains to be seen if the merch holds up but with over 50 high-end brands already inked, this is one to watch. 

PS you can also follow Little Black Bag on Pinterest, which is a perfect place for them to be. Again, another very smart way to drive traffic and capture the right audience for their launch.