The newly relaunched Elle Accessories, a bi-annual special issue of Elle Magazine (owned by Hearst Corporation), debuted a new e-commerce platform that lets readers purchase online any of the more than 1,100 items in that publication.
The companion platform is called Shop Accessories. “Shop Accessories is our Web extension to the print Elle Accessories,” Deanne Kaczerski, director of Elle.com and RealBeauty.com, tells the website Folio. “Users can shop the accessories that appear in the magazine index in the back of the book the way they would on any e-commerce store. They can filter by price, color, designer and subtype—if someone specifically wants blue platforms that are under $1,000, the platform allows the user to find the exact item they want.”
Readers who visit Elle.com are directed to Shop Accessories via a homepage “Accessories” tab. The magazine has teamed up with advertising partner Net-A-Porter, and clicking on any item on the site redirects consumers to that brand’s e-commerce site for instant purchasing.
This foray into e-commerce by Hearst comes on the heels of Conde Nast announcing a $20 million investment in Farfetch, a website that brings online consumers together with luxury brands.
The opportunities for merchandising via print magazines and their content websites are almost endless, and have been a long time coming. The marriage of content and commerce is quickly becoming acceptable not only to publishers trying to combat a languishing advertising market, but also by consumers of media.
Content providers, keep an eye on this trend.
