In Time For The Holiday Retail Frenzy, Lucky Magazine Makes Editorial Picks Shoppable


As fashion magazines, like Vogue, are trying to establish viable digital strategies, Lucky Magazine is making their first venture into the e-commerce world with the launch of a online retail site. Partnered with loyalty shopping technology startup Mall Networks, Lucky is rolling out a retail site that makes editorial picks “shoppable.”

The site will feature daily editorial picks on clothing, accessories, and beauty products. Users can then click to purchase the picks on various retail sites. You can filter results by category, designer, price range and store. Users can share products to Facebook, Twitter and save any items to an Amazon Wish List. The site also serves as a comparison shopping site between merchants, and features nearly 100,000 various fashion items from more than 450 brands.

Lucky is using Mall Network’s loyalty shopping technology to power a rewards program that would let shoppers receive up to 25 percent cash back for purchases. The site is an obvious take on how to incorporate editorial content with retail engagement. It seems like the first step for the magazine to create more of a digital presence in the retail world

Lucky is making money from affiliate fees from retailers as well as advertising on the site. Vogue Magazine, which like Lucky, is a Conde Nast publication, just hired President Obama’s campaign digital strategists, Blue State Digital, to help them maximize revenue online. But Lucky seems to have curated its own digital strategy without the help of consultants. The magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Kim France, says the new site is designed to bring the magazine’s content online, but in an engaging and contextual way. The site doesn’t aim to create an e-commerce platform but is geared more towards supporting editorial content and retail stores. Inspired by the idea of comparison shopping portals on Google, Bing and other search engines, Lucky’s web director, Mary Gail Pezzimenti, aimed to create a better version of this that caters to fashion products.

Pezzimenti says that Lucky is looking to broaden its footstep in the digital world in the future, with the possibility of partnering with online sample sale sites, which are gaining serious traction in the space. The magazine is also interested in exploring the intersection of social media and shopping, which startups IMshopping and Weardrobe is furthering. Pezzimenti also highlighted the possibility of bringing click-to-buy technology to Lucky’s site, where users could by products directly from a video or phone. And Lucky is looking into providing personalized styling recommendations, like that of Like’s Covet.com, to help create customized product referrals for users

Earlier this year, Lucky launched a pretty nifty iPhone app that serves as a digital concierge service. The app will locate the closest retailer that carries a particular item or you can buy it online immediately. Once the app locates the retailer that contains the desired item, it will put it on hold at the store. The app has seen over 160,000 downloads since February.

You’ve got to hand it to Lucky. In an age where print magazines are floundering, it’s refreshing to see a publication look towards startups, social media and the web for digital inspiration.