These days, it’s sink or swim in the publishing industry. As advertisers pull out dollars, magazines are forced to think of ways to pull in additional revenue and one way to do this is to sell, sell, sell. But we’re not talking about selling magazine subscriptions. We’re talking about selling product.
Ladies and gentlemen, our example of the day is Time Inc. (the big guys who publish InStyle, People, and other glossies). The magazine group has boldly tapped into the land of e-commerce by acquiring StyleFeeder, a personal shopping engine.
The move comes after Time Inc.’s ad dollars dipped down 25 percent in the first nine months of 2009. Time Warner Chief Executive Ann Moore explains.
The strategy is: Invest in the biggest brands, double down on the digital, and get into third revenue streams. This [StyleFeeder] got a check in all three boxes.
StyleFeeder is simple, user-friendly, and quite genius (if you ask an online shopper like myself). The site prides itself in learning about your tastes and personal style as you shop. For instance, if you type in “black mini skirt”, thousands of skirts will pop up. But as you “add” the ones you like to your StyleFeed, the site will learn the types of things you like. The more you shop, the more StyleFeeder figures out what to feed you. It basically takes the guesswork out of online shopping. Similar sites that do this are TheFind.com and Covet.com.
Expect to see StyleFeeder promos throughout some of the fashion-oriented Time Inc. magazine in the near future, which makes me question what the big brands will think of next. If you haven’t read our post about Google venturing into paper products (as in, toilet paper), check it out. And in case you’re wondering, Search Engine Journal has branded company uniforms (as in, sweatsuits) in the works.
I do really like this site, great product display and product description available, has community with style sheets. I do agree it is a genius website. Hope to see more of it.
This is a pretty fun concept if you like to shop online alot, like myself. But personally I get annoyed with product recommendations when they have nothing to do with what I’ve bought in the past or my personal preferences, which is often what happens with StyleFinder.
I much prefer Sortprice.com’s Wishlist application on Facebook. It’s free and customizable and you control the list of desired items, which your friends can comment on and/or like. It ends up creating a pretty cool network. I think this is the page to get the Wishlist: http://www.sortprice.com/facebook_wishlist/