One of the great emerging prospects in digital media is the fusion of content publishing and ecommerce.
The likes of ASOS, Birchbox and Telegraph Fashion have been marrying the two for a couple of years. Now women’s weekly magazine Grazia is the latest to try profiting from the collision.
The U.K. title has launched a new “shoppable” iPad edition. According to publisher Bauer Media:
“[It] enables the reader to buy items directly from Grazia’s influential fashion pages, acting on impulse as soon as they see items on screen. They will also be able to link through to purchase everything from theater and gig tickets to books and technology products.”
Although the iPad (s AAPL) edition has a £1.99-per-edition cover price through Apple Newsstand, that hasn’t stopped Bauer Media also leaning on what it’s calling an ecommerce-centric “Shop, Share and Save” mentality for extra revenue.
The many clothes and beauty items featured in the title link through to purchase options, powered by PopSugar’s Shopstyle, with which revenue is split. And Grazia has inked a specific partnership with high street retailer Boots both to process beauty transactions and to feature a feed of top products from boots.com.
Bauer Media lifestyle MD Abby Carvosso (via announcement):
“We’re already in discussions with premium brands seeking innovative new advertising solutions. We know readers buy products recommended by Grazia and this new iPad edition offers them the ease and simplicity to buy a product as soon as they see it.”
Two years ago, Advent Ventures partner Frédéric Court wrote on paidContent:
“Media companies now have a chance to monetise their audiences not just through plain ads, but also through transactions.
“On the flip side, ecommerce companies have begun to create their own content – using articles and videos to provide curated commerce experiences – and to monetize their audience, like publishers before them, by selling ads.”
This fusion is a natural fit for a title like Grazia, which is obsessed by products and adept at editorializing to advocate them. With featured clutch bags, for example, retailing at prices like £2,045, Bauer could be on to a winner if this works.
All publishers, however, must be careful not to let the commerce tail wag the content dog so much that readers balk.