"Polyvore's mission is to democratize fashion", said its Managing Director, Katherine McClymonds, at the recent WWD Social Media Forum. Polyvore, Chictopia, Kaboodle: They are the new "social shopping community sites". What are they? Each member of the Polyvore community shares information about their favourite outfits and products with all the other members: They coordinate outfits, create collages
Their success is easily explained:
- Crowdsourcing: The consumers themselves are the creators and judges... Everyone is free to express their creative talents and express an opinion, show their favourite products to the community (like on Kaboodle, where the range of products extend far beyond fashion).
- One can (indirectly) buy the products shown: tie-ups with merchant sites (amazon / netaporter / brand sites...) allow Polyvore to generate income.
- A magazine section that gives members tips, information, advice...
Some brands quickly realized the advantages of such sites: Coach organized a contest on Polyvore during the Christmas season, sending the creations of its members to its own Facebook page in order to select the winners. Diane von Furstenberg asked members to vote on models from her Fall-Winter collection in order to understand the expectations of her clients better. Thus brands - who wish to retain the control of their image on their site or their blog - can now dialogue with their consumers on sites like this: Web monitoring (where one of the partners of The Scriptorium Company is present) should become an essential part of communication and brand distribution strategies.
