Lately we've witnessed the intersection of content and commerce, an emerging breed of retail site that features magazine-like editorials, photo spreads and inspiring video, all designed to instruct and, ultimately, sell a product.
We've identified three sites that best exemplify that model -- sites that go beyond a side blog or other siloed content offering and thoroughly integrate content into an engaging and meaningful retail experience.
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Mr Porter
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Arriving at Mr Porter, a high-end men's retail site connected to online luxury retailer Net-a-Porter, feels more like opening a magazine spread than entering an online shopping destination.
That's no accident. The site is edited by former British Esquire editor Jeremy Langmead, who works alongside other veterans in the magazine and retail industries.
Beneath the minimalist navigation is a revolving slideshow of editorial features. The articles invite you to learn how to be a great dinner guest, read up on a stylish music artist, or peer inside the carry-ons of five prominent, globe-trotting men, including polo player and Ralph Lauren model Nacho Figueras.
These pieces are elegantly written, formatted and, in some cases, filmed or photographed. Of course, shopping options are embedded throughout. A gallery of iconic on-screen looks from the '70s, for instance, also showcases modern-day equivalents available for purchase on Mr Porter.
The site produces a weekly eight-article "issue" around its catalogue, in addition to an ever-expanding style directory, repository of style advice (e.g. how to match a tie knot to a shirt color), video manual and more.
The site's editorial content is strong enough to stand on its own. Once it has you lusting after the aspirational lifestyle it so beautifully illustrates, it's only a few clicks away to your Mr Porter shopping cart.
One Kings Lane
One Kings Lane launched in 2009 as a flash sales site for upscale home furnishings. At the beginning of the year, the company acquired design firm Helicopter, best known for launching Domino magazine.
One Kings Lane has since integrated Domino-like content into its retail offerings. A sale on bedsheets displays a video detailing how to fold fitted sheets; another sale on art prints provides instructions for hanging art "salon style." The startup also developed "Five Rooms in Five Days," a feature in which all of the goods on display are shoppable, says CEO Doug Mack.
Mack says the site's content offering not only gives shoppers another reason to come back to the site each day, but also gives them the confidence to make purchases.
"In the home category there is anxiety about whether a purchase will be in good taste. We develop [instructional content] on the site to remove [shoppers'] worries that they will make a mistake," Mack explains.
It's a model that appears to be working: The startup currently boasts a run rate of $100 million, up from $30 million last year, says Mack. Seventy-five percent of sales are from repeat buyers.
Joyus
Joyus, a women's retail site launched early 2011 by former executives from Google and eBay, has created an integrated shopping and editorial experience using video. The site offers limited-time sales on a range of luxury apparel, beauty and home goods. Each sale is accompanied by a short infomercial — typically two to four minutes — in which a guest contributor gives an overview of the product and its uses.
The infomercials are particularly useful for marketing merchandise shoppers may not be inherently familiar with, for instance, Tatcha beauty papers, which claim to remove excess oil and prevent breakouts. For Tatcha, Joyus brought in professional makeup artist Matthew Van Leeuwen to demonstrate the papers to visitors unconvinced whether they needed to have this product in their cosmetics bags.
The videos aren't just beneficial for discovery; they're also prompting users to buy. According to co-founder Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, sales are more successful when viewers watch between 2.5 to 3.5 minutes of video on the site.
Runners Up
Beyond the three startups cited above, we also admire the way fashion brand Kate Spade has begun integrating content into its online catalogue, as well as new editorial offerings from flash sales sites Gilt Home and Gilt Taste.
Although the content of the latter two is of good quality, Gilt has visibly allocated less resources into developing site content than the examples outlined above. We also feel, particularly on Gilt Taste, that the existing content tends to sit alongside, rather than integrated into, its ecommerce element.
Likewise, we think Kate Spade would benefit by further integrating its catalogue and editorial to create, for example, shoppable photo and video shoots, rather than ping-ponging users back and forth between the separate content and commerce sections of its site.
Meanwhile, magazines are integrating ecommerce into their websites. As both models evolve, it will be interesting to see where the line between online magazines and editorially enhanced online retail is drawn.
We'll be taking a further look at these trends at Mashable's Media Summit on Nov. 4, where I'll be moderating a panel with Esquire's editor in chief David Granger, Gilt Groupe's Alexis Maybank and Maureen Mullen of research advisory L2.
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This story originally published on Mashable here.
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