Hearst Buys Kaboodle: Social Shopping or Editorial eCommerce?
Who says who needs MySpace? Not Hearst Corp. In acquiring Kaboodle, Hearst Interactive Media president Kenneth Bronfin looks to MySpace for inspiration (not Facebook):
Kaboodle is a rapidly growing business in a distictive and fascinating space. We are delighted to becoame a significant player in the social shopping space and believe that Kaboodle will bring to social shopping what MySpace has brought to social media.
What is the “heart” of Kaboodle? “A fun and engaging community of people who love to shop,” so believes Kaboodle founder & CEO Manish Chandra. he looks to Hearst for “premier content” and “deep media and advertising relationships” in building out a “premier social shopping platform.”
Cathleen Black on how Hearst Magazines will support the Kaboodle build out: “Our readers will be able to find the products featured in our magazines, shop electronically with their friends and get their feedback.”
The Wall Street Journal on Hearst’s future Kaboodle plans:
Hearst says it is likely to build pages on Kaboodle featuring products from many of its 19 U.S. magazine titles, such as Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, aiming to generate buzz around the magazines by allowing shoppers to sound off about the products they feature online. It wants to develop Kaboodle into a larger independent lifestyle site by linking it with deep-pocketed advertisers and editorial content.
The business newspaper of “record,” WSJ, says Hearst wants to “feature products from many of its magazines” and link “deep-pocketed advertisers and editorial content.”
Where will Hearst editorial stop and/or begin? Are “products featured” by Hearst, now in its magazines, soon at Kaboodle, editorial recommendations or paid product placements? Will “social shoppers” know the difference? Will Hearst take a commissison on editorial product “features” that are linked with “deep-pocketed advertisers” for ecommerce?
Shopping magazine editorial is already often a seeming compilation of corporate PR fueld covert product placements.
Conde Nast’s “mission statement” for Lucky Magazine:
Lucky is America’s ultimate shopping and style magazine. The best to buy in fashion, beauty and living. The voice of a friend you love to take shopping. Choices, not dictates. Price points ranging from high to low. Buying info for every item featured.
Lucky magazine online drives traffic to Conde Nast’s “Direct to You,” which Hearst undoubtedly evaluated while evaluating Kaboodle. “Exclusive shopping opportunities brought to you by Conde Nast Publications,” is the tag line:
Direct to You is a unique online marketplace that offers exclusive promotions you won’t find anywhere else.
REALLY? The “Careers & Education” Marketplace “from the publishers of Glamour, Teen Vogue & Bon Appetit, for example, is apparently little more than a compilation of paid links to third-party Websites. No Conde Nast advertorial disclaimer is apparent, though.
Conde Nast’s “Direct to You” also lets readers “sound off about the products they feature,” as Hearst intends to do with the Kaboodle destination.
Beware social shoppers: Editorial ecommerce blooms.
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