Magazines are perfect for ecommerce. Or are they? \u00a0Well, the major online women\u2019s retailers \u2013 like Net-a-Porter, ASOS, HauteLook, TopShop and Groupe Gilt \u2013 use content in magazine-like ways. They employ a raft of former editors and, tantalisingly, either collaborate with magazines or advertise (just a little) in them. They also produce online magazines. And ASOS even publishes a hard copy one.<\/p>\n
These powering sites represent the fusion of retail and media, just like Amazon with its film production and ebook publishing. The ecommerce pioneers are moving quickly to build strong retail-media franchises. Magazine publishers now know that online retailing is the competition. They hope it is also their opportunity.<\/p>\n
Like the rising tide of free magazines (see recent\u00a0Flashes & Flames\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>post), these sites are also effectively giving consumers free editorial with the\u00a0convenience of click-through shopping. Advertisers are building sales and data \u2013 and paying only by results. And even the Gilt and HauteLook membership-only approach strikes a chord with consumers, familiar with the \u2018community\u2019 of their favourite magazine. So everybody\u2019s happy \u2013 except, perhaps, paid-for magazines watching enviously from the sidelines.<\/p>\n That is the temptation and the challenge for the world\u2019s magazine publishers, at a time when copy sales and advertising in most developed economies have continued sliding \u2013 and when ecommerce is widely considered to be the salvation. \u00a0But there are three fundamental questions:<\/p>\n The Hearst Corporation might be expected to have the answers. It is the world\u2019s largest women\u2019s magazines publisher \u2013 and the most international magazine business of all.<\/p>\n Hearst is a comforting web of cosy contradictions. It was founded 125 years ago by Citizen Kane himself, the late William Randolph Hearst \u2013 the first Rupert Murdoch. As if in the old man\u2019s memory, his company carried on piling into newspapers long after it was\u00a0fashionable \u2013 and into money-spinning cable TV long before it was. It has become the much-envied leader in the international licensing of magazines: its legendary\u00a0Cosmopolitan\u00a0<\/em>(still sexy after all these years) is published in 64 countries and 35 languages. And, just as magazines were in a tailspin and being divested by major companies across the world, Hearst enthusiastically paid Hachette $900m to create a worldwide business of 300 magazines in 80 countries.<\/p>\n Hearst is now breathing down the neck of the leader, Time Inc. But there is a big difference: Hearst loves magazines and Time Warner wishes it didn\u2019t have to. Hearst Corporation is booming. This year\u2019s revenue is expected to reach $9bn \u2013 an increase of 400% in 25 years. CEO of the family-controlled media group is the affable and sharp-as-tacks Frank Bennack. He is (you would not guess) 79 years old and has been with Hearst for 50 years. In this, his second spell at the helm, Bennack has a plan. And, of course, it is very digital.<\/p>\n But who would have bet on Hearst setting the pace for magazine publishers searching for a new role in ecommerce? Well, soon after buying Hachette, the company started picking the brains of its managers in iCrossing, the digital marketing agency it had acquired in 2010. iCrossing began life all of 14 years ago as a search marketing agency before we had heard of SEO. It can now be seen as a highly strategic investment for a traditional media company in pursuit of transformation. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" These powering sites represent the fusion of retail and media, just like Amazon with its film production and ebook publishing. The ecommerce pioneers are moving quickly to build strong retail-media franchises. Magazine publishers now know that online retailing is the competition. They hope it is also their opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[1660,631,1656,1653,852,1655,1659,1650,1652,771,1648,1649,1651,838,1060,996,1661,1657,1654,1658],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swhype.com\/video-production-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swhype.com\/video-production-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swhype.com\/video-production-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swhype.com\/video-production-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swhype.com\/video-production-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swhype.com\/video-production-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swhype.com\/video-production-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swhype.com\/video-production-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swhype.com\/video-production-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swhype.com\/video-production-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n