ELLE Launches Social Commerce On Facebook
ELLE already has e-commerce relationships with Rue LaLa and HMS. O’Malley says that for now the actual e-commerce revenues for the media company are “small but growing.” With every experiment like this, however, the company learns more about how to leverage its editorial authority in moving people to buy as well as the kinds of things people will and won’t be likely to purchase on the Web.The next iteration of the S-commerce Trend Guide will focus on beauty to synchronize with the summer months and the heightened concern for skin and cosmetics. The fall version of the Trend Guide will be refreshed to focus on accessories and will accompany and support the re-launch of the suspended ELLE Accessories brand. We had “e-commerce” then “m-commerce” and more recently “t-commerce” (tablet commerce for those still catching up). Get ready to add “S-Commerce” to the endless digital lexicon. Hearst Digital Media has given us “social commerce” this week via a new feature at ELLE magazine’s Facebook page. The magazine is curating a series of products featured in a pop-up “Trend Report” on its fan page that links directly to the purchase pages for a range of retailers and brands. This story first appears on FOLIO: sister site, minonline. Although this is an experiment in “S-commerce” ELLE svp, publisher and chief revenue officer Kevin O’Malley tells minonline that the first version of the model actually doesn’t involve revenue. “In this deal there is no rev share,” he says. Although the buy buttons deep-link directly to the respective item’s sell page at the vendor, ELLE deliberately planned the first version to run without affiliate revenue sharing. “No one really knows if Facebook is a platform for transactional commerce,” O’Malley explains. “In iteration 1.0 we didn’t want to do a rev share and we said this to all participating brands.” It is a learning experience for everyone. ELLE wants to offer consumers the ability to follow inspiration to making the buy, but it is unclear yet whether consumers’ social network is the place readers want to shop.But O’Malley emphasizes that this Trend Guide program was designed to profit the ELLE brand and its partners regardless of sales. The custom Love, Want and Own gestures put the ELLE brand and the partner’s item on the reader’s wall with a link for all their friends to see and buy it. “The value proposition for us is that even if we don’t make a sale, this becomes like a shopping widget that goes out on her wall where friends can see it.” ELLE is adding to the Facebook experience by crafting icons and sentiments that are more nuanced than the somewhat blunt instrument of a “Like.” The Trend Guide is a Facebook tab that identifies six trends of the season: Flower Girl, Sea World, Sporting Goods, Portrait of a Lady, Showgirls and Wanderlust. Each trend opens up a gallery of related goods. Users can follow an ELLE “Lexicon” of tags or what ELLE calls “custom gestures” that let them “Love” an item, add it to their “Want” list or just declare on the social net that they already Own it. These gestures and related icons are posted as a “Shoppable Story” to one’s timeline, newsfeed or ticker. Or you can just tap the Buy! button to get kicked over to the partner’s order page.Affiliates in the program include Gucci, Bebe, AG Jeans, Nine West, Tommy Hilfiger and many others. The new functionality on ELLE’s Facebook page will be promoted via email, site and a Facebook ad campaign. Hearst partnered with 8thBridge, whose platform enables integration of transactions within the Facebook network.
Dan Cohen AUTHOR The Florida Cabinet on Tuesday voted to purchase almost 10 acres of land in central Florida that hosts a number of DOD tenants primarily focused on simulation.The purchase would allow DOD to reduce its leasing expense for Team Orlando as part of a state-led effort to retain Orlando’s defense simulation cluster in the event of a new BRAC round. DOD pays about $5.4 million annually in rent for 200,000 square feet of commercial space in Orlando.“In this current budget environment, that’s a terrible place to be,” Thomas Baptiste, president of the National Center for Simulation, told News4Jax.Last year, Baptiste told the Central Florida Partnership that he fears DOD could end its leases in Orlando and move to other federal or military sites that have spare capacity.“I’m going to tell you today, there will be another round of BRAC. As the other services get smaller, there are empty federal buildings all over this nation that could house pieces and parts of Team Orlando, and undermine the fabric that drives this $5 billion industry,” Baptiste said at the time.The Florida Defense Support Task Force has made moving DOD tenants into government-rate leases a top priority. The purchase would add 9.58 acres to the Central Florida Research Park, which sits next to the University of Central Florida campus and Naval Support Activity Orlando.Gov. Rick Scott (R) voted against the purchase, based on his opposition to the $13.9 million purchase price and not the effort’s objective, according to the story.
5 apps for group video calls WhatsApp adds a new privacy feature. Chesnot / Getty Images Tired of getting added to random WhatsApp groups from strangers? Good news.WhatsApp’s latest changes give you control over groups you engage with on the messaging app. Instead of being added to a group without your consent, the app now lets you decide who can add you to a group, WhatsApp said in a blog post Wednesday.Now you can choose who can add you to a group: nobody, just your contacts or anyone. Users can find the new feature through Settings > Account > Privacy > Groups. If you’ve enabled restricted access, you’ll get a private message from anyone who tries to add you to a group with the invite link. The invite link will stay active for three days.Some WhatsApp users have long been frustrated with the problem of random group adds. They’ll now have more control over the messages they receive. “These new privacy settings will begin rolling out to some users starting today and will be available worldwide in the coming weeks to those using the latest version of WhatsApp,” the company said. Mobile Share your voice Privacy WhatsApp 1:10
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Passengers check in at Thai Airways counters at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport February 23, 2015.Reuters fileThai Airways International Public Co (Thai Airways), the state-owned carrier of Thailand, posted net profit for the first time in four years. The net profit for the year ended December 2016 was Thai Baht (THB) 15 million, or about $429,000, a marked improvement from THB 13 billion loss reported in 2015.Read: Thailand may go slow on plans to promote wedding destinations among Indians on account of King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s deathThe turnaround was attributed to lower fuel prices and efficient management of costs by the company that also reflected in higher operating profit for the year, though revenues fell 4.3 percent to THB 8,190 million. The number of passengers flown by the carrier rose 4.8 percent to 22.26 million during the year.”…the financial performance in 2016 of THAI and its subsidiaries showed an operating profit of THB 4,071 million compared to last year’s loss of THB 1,304 million or 412.2 percent, a vast improvement from last year,” Thai Airways said in a statement on Wednesday.A 21.6 percent fall in jet fuel prices and 7.7 percent decline in finance costs enabled to cut total expenses by 7 percent to THB 17,907 million. The last quarter (October to December) saw yields drop 9 percent mainly due to the mourning period after King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s death on October 17, 2016. The overall yield for 2016 fell 4.4 percent, according to an analysis note by Nomura. “Had the yield drop been softer, we think 4Q performance could have been far ahead of forecasts,” analysts at the Japanese brokerage said.Thai Airways’s financials during the year were also affected due to exceptional items. “Key exceptional items in FY16 were: THB 3.628 billion impairment loss due on 17 decommissioned aircraft along with provisions for impairment on engines of these aircraft and expense from the Transformation plan of THB 1,228 million (mutual separation plan and special incentive provision to employees),” Nomura analysts wrote in their note.Outlook bright for current yearThai Airways is poised for higher growth in revenues and margins this year on account of continued benefits from efficiency cost management and a spurt in tourist arrivals, especially from China.The Thai Airways stock price closed 2.59 percent lower at THB 18.80 on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. It has a fleet of 95 aircraft, unchanged from last year. Usanee Sangsingkeo is the acting president of Thai Airways. Nomura