Fashion at Your Fingertips
Fueled by the growing popularity of smart phones and devices such as the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, consumers are turning more to their mobile gadgets to gather news and entertainment and to shop and browse for goods.
A March 2009 study done by Reston, Va.–based ComScore Inc., a firm that measures the online marketplace, reported that the number of people usingmobile devices to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009.
Brands and retailers are beginning to recognize the power of mobile-device applications not only for shopping but also as a tool to connect to consumers more instantaneously.
With this in mind, San Francisco–based Sugar Inc. in June released a mobile iPhone and iPod Touch application of ShopStyle, its shopping Web site.
The ShopStyle application works like the site, where users can browse through a number of products and sort findings by brand, style categories, pricing and colors.
ShopStyle relied on its partnership with retailers, such as ShopBop and Revolve Clothing, when translating the Web site to a mobile interface, according to founder and General Manager Andy Moss. The mobile application uses the same retailer content aggregated on the site.
“It’s not just sending someone to a Web site,” Moss said. “The experience we envision is sending someone directly to the product.”
According to Moss, ShopStyle gains its revenue stream from its retailers. Depending on the retailer, it can either be based upon commission or cost-per-click, similar to the Google ad model. Moss did not disclose how much revenue is earned through its retail partnerships, but since its launch, the ShopStyle app has been one of the top downloaded applications in the Lifestyle category of the Apple iTunes store.
Moss predicts that in a few years, people will expect to do the same thing on their phones as on their computers. “What we’re doing is building out that same model on the iPhone and bringing the best stores and brands you can find all in one place,” Moss said.
ShopStyle’s next focus is to optimize the checkout process when purchasing a product. “We’re working on how to make the checkout experience optimized for the phone and for the application to serve like a one-click ordering system similar to iTunes,” Moss said.
Attracting an audience
Hearst-owned Seventeen magazine worked with digital-shopping site NearbyNow Inc., based in Mountain View, Calif., when developing its recently launched application, geared toward its core teen-girl audience.The Seventeen Fashion Finder draws its content from the magazine, such as fashion picks by the September cover girl, actress Selena Gomez.
NearbyNow provides a digital concierge service to online shoppers. Through its partnership with brands and retailers, NearbyNow will search and locate items at stores in proximity to the user and will also hold items at a user’s request.
On the Seventeen Fashion Finder, the products are broken down by price, color, brand and “Vibe”—whatever type of fashion plate a girl identifies with. The “Vibes” featured on the app are Rocker, Classic, Boho and Girly. The Seventeen Fashion Finder app also features teen-friendly brands, such as Forever 21, Guess? Inc. and JunkFood Clothing.
“It’s an opportunity for retailers to reach consumers in places where they may not have been able to before,” said Brett Gardner, vice president of marketing for NearbyNow. “It helps retailers drive qualified foot traffic into stores.”
Social shopping through the Web and now via mobile devices is becoming more common, Gardner said. On the Seventeen Fashion Finder app, users can e-mail picks and share products.
“The Seventeen audience is a good fit with the huge percentage of teen girls with an iPhone or iPod Touch,” Gardner said. The app currently sits in the Top 10 of applications in the Lifestyle category of the iTunes store and has produced 1.5 million product views, according to Gardner.
NearbyNow previously launched CondeNast’s Lucky Magazine’s At Your Service application, which features guides of the products from the print edition and applies NearbyNow’s same concierge service.
San Francisco–based clothing company Gap Inc. recently launched a mobile application for the iPhone and iPod Touch as part of its digital campaign for its new denim line, 1969.The Gap StyleMixer application allows users to put together outfits from a list of Gap clothes and accessories and share their picks with a community of users. Users can share outfits and tips and upload their looks to social-network accounts on Facebook.
“The application gives users a shopping tool to mix and match different outfits and find inspiration and connect with others who are interested in fashion,” said Julie Channing, senior account director for AKQA, an advertising agency that launched the application with Gap. “The Gap audience is out and about, so we wanted to provide a useful tool they can take on the go.”
The user can also gain access to exclusive offers only available through the application when they are in the vicinity of a Gap retail store location.
