Inline, Online, Off

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. 

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. 

Gap, DVF, and Nordies Shut Up Shop on Facebook

Facebook storefronts seemed like an interesting proposition to a number of high-profile retail and apparel brands last year. And I applaud the brands and their agencies for their willingness to experiment with creating e-commerce experiences inside of the world’s leading social network. 

However, according to Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research, “There was a lot of anticipation that Facebook would turn into a new destination, a store, a place where people would shop.

“But it was like trying to sell stuff to people while they’re hanging out with their friends at the bar.”

Bloomberg has the story

The truth is, pop-up stores have worked in skate parks and other unlikely social spaces in the physical world, so why not see if online social networkers are in the shopper mindset, too? 

As these brands pull down their apps and get back to their ‘question of the day’ conversational marketing tactics on the service, I imagine this story will ricochet around other retail brands and their digital agency partners this month. F-Commerce plans may get scrapped in favor of Pinterest boards or Polyvore contests and rightly so. If our job is to carve out a slice of a marketers budget to try something and see if it sticks, to be disruptive and play with technology-based innovations, then I actually hope to see more articles like this. 

Good for GAP and Nordstrom. Where next? 

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. 

Shoply: Pretty Much Etsy, Then?

As per TechCrunch, UK-based (and massively scaling) ecomm startup Shoply just got a nice little injection of cash and support from people who deftly navigate social networks, the so-called interest graph, and ecommerce. 

After having a bit of a nose, it’s got a few more social features than other direct-to-consumer sites, and creates a much speedier journey down the path to purchase than other interest networks. But I can’t say I’m seeing a huge differentiator here. 

Sellers get pretty nice listings pages with lots of sharing features. And the service skims off a commission on all items sold. As TechCrunch points out, some of the unregulated shipping fees prove some sellers are having a laugh but let’s keep an eye on this one.