The Fashion Techie

Curatemedia Emerges as the “VOGUE” of Social Shopping

February 1st, 2010

Social shopping has emerged gradually over the last few years reminding other platforms like eBay and Google Products to that fashion is a multi billion dollar business that shouldn’t be ignored. However, although a number of social shopping networks have popped up (Kaboodle, Stylefeeder, ThisNext, Stylehive..etc) no site has emerged as the leader in social shopping until now. Today, ThisNext announced that it would be acquiring Stylehive and launching a new parent company, Curatemedia, which will operate the two social shopping giants.

The most profound statement came from Curatemedia’s CEO Scott Morrow:

“In 2009, we saw companies in the market with unclear value propositions, failed business models and poor execution go out of business. To the contrary, we have emerged stronger, better and in a position to lead the category as the largest independent social shopping property. The market opportunity is enormous and we expect to aggressively grow our business with additional acquisitions in 2010.”

This is new acquisition is an important indicator of the next phase of fashion online and the emergence of Fashion 3.0:

1. Fashion and technology is reaching new depths and heights. Companies that keep up with both industries effectively will survive. Those who don’t will eventually be weeded out.

2. Information overload is a serious issue and the complaints were heard over and over in 2009. The fact that many social shopping networks failed in 2009 is a clear indicator that consumers want to go to less places and get more done online

3. Fashion businesses need to understand that  fashion and social media is not a “trend” – it’s here to stay and understanding how to utilize it can effect your marketing reach.

I’m personally looking forward to seeing what happens next and where Curatemedia will take this new venture. The exciting part is that ThisNext raised a Series C round of funding (to the tune of 1.2 million) from a number of investors that will provide registered users with new shopping tools and advanced ecommerce functionality.

Quick Facts for Newbies

Social Shopping: Social shopping is a combination of social media, e-commerce and traditional shopping. Using technology like wisdom crowds, registered users collect products, prices and deals while sharing shopping list, collages, articles, recommendations and more.

Fashion 3.0: Fashion 3.0, like Web 3.0, is the next generation of online fashion and according to experts, should occur between now and 2020. Fashion 3.0 consist of taking everything we learned and developed from Fashion 2.0 and making web applications that are more intelligent.

Stylehive: Stylehive is a fashion and beauty community dedicated to uncovering the styles, trends and products that shape the world of fashion and beauty. With over 600,000 registered users, the Stylehive community reveals the best new products from across the Web. Editors and bloggers provide an editorial layer on top of the crowd sourced content, providing comprehensive coverage.

ThisNext: Founded in 2006 by a team of seasoned Internet entrepreneurs, ThisNext changed the way people discover and shop for products online. Santa Monica based, ThisNext serves millions of consumers every month as the Web’s best place to discover the products, brands, trends and people that shape the future of what’s next.