Editorializing the Retail Experience: Increasing customer value & loyalty

(An image of Adelaide's first bidding experience on eBay! She got brave and ventured out of the "Buy It Now" category!)









Another interesting installment in our inFOCUS series with Meredith Barnett! So far we've learned about her role at TIS and detailed why she is really quite unique. Meet Meredith at an end-of-the-month Ladies Lunch on March 24th.


What is The Inside Source and what are its goals?

The Inside Source is a digital magazine presented by eBay about trends in shopping for fashion, home & garden, collectibles and more. The publication is targeted at a fashion-savvy female audience (think Lucky and Domino magazines) and has articles similar to those you'll find in a fashion/lifestyle magazine such as trend reports, style maker profiles, gift guides etc.

The critical difference is that instead of showing merchandise from a variety of different retailers, we reinforce trends by highlighting items for sale on eBay. In that way, we help curate the sometimes-overwhelming eBay shopping experience (200 million+ products available for sale!) to identify the most stylish items for the most fashion-savvy shoppers. eBay has long been a go-to source for fashion types, who stalk the online marketplace for hard-to-find collectibles or new-with-tags designer pieces they didn't get their hands on last season. By editorializing the retail experience, we’re giving a voice to the chicer side of the site. Further, because we are presented by eBay, we can rely on the insights of 90 million users who shop eBay. That means we can use real shopping data to back up many of the trends we assert--so we're uniquely equipped to serve as a barometer of trends.

Can you talk a bit more about the concept of “editorializing the retail experience”? How can others learn from that?

We hear a lot about how businesses are focusing on growing brand loyalty by building relationships with their customers. Customers will choose one company over another very similar one if they feel some affinity towards the brand. One way that many retailers and brands are doing this is by editorializing the retail experience--not just merchandising products according to designer and color like in the old days, but really trying to tell stories around the products sold: Where do these items come from? Who makes them? Who chose them? What important style makers love these items and how do they use them?

These stories can be told through a retailer's or brand's own website or in its stores through displays, etc. Another way to editorialize the retail experience is by creating additional content that lives outside of the point of sale--by creating a magazine, video series, or content-focused site like The Inside Source.

These "media" properties help humanize a brand. And again, as in the case of The Inside Source, the site is also a way to curate the 200m products for sale on eBay for a specific part of the customer base.


FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

* How can you incorporate these principles into your offering or value proposition?

* It what ways do you // can you editorialize your customer experience? What value will it serve?


See other great examples of businesses that "editorialize the retail experience"

Behind the Scenes at The Inside Source with Meredith Barnett

As part of our March inFOCUS program, we talked with Meredith about her super interesting role at The Inside Source, eBay’s digital style magazine. (You can learn more about Meredith and why we love her or the March inFOCUS program here).

We are so impressed with her ability to leverage so many of her past professional experiences into the perfect enterprising position!


Tell us a little about your role at eBay’s The Inside Source (TIS). What are your primary responsibilities as Editorial Director?

As the Editorial Director of TIS, I oversee the product, both from a macro and micro perspective. From a macro perspective, I drive the articles we post, the language we use, the topics we cover, the people we hire...From a micro-perspective, I manage and set the editorial calendar, work with existing group of freelance contributors to refine story ideas and schedule articles (approximately 15 articles/week), work with a designer to determine visuals and line edit and post every piece of copy on the site!

I'm also fairly involved in the strategic and marketing side of the site. I've secured press coverage (check me out on Fox & Friends), worked with writers to get incoming links from bloggers we've written about and helped set up content syndication opportunities and giveaways.


How did your entrepreneurial experience equip you for this position?

I feel like my past work experiences have all led me towards my current position.

My first job out of college was in marketing at White + Warren, a women's knitwear company, where I learned about the fashion business from the inside--how sales are made, how inventory is managed, etc.

I then worked as an editor at Lucky magazine. I learned a TON there...but I think the biggest takeaway was an unrelenting focus on quality, of content in particular.

I got my MBA at Harvard Business School, which gave me a framework for seeing businesses in the big picture--not just my own role.

Then, I co-founded Store Adore (www.storeadore.com), a web-based guide to boutique shopping around the country and online. There, I experienced being an entrepreneur, which has helped me tremendously in my new role. (Even though TIS is run by a huge corporation, it's still an entrepreneurial venture in many ways.) I learned about digital media, particularly the challenges of building traffic. I got tremendous experience being the editor-in-chief of an online publication,which is essentially what I do now.

Then I worked briefly at Lifetime Networks, where I was Director, Digital Media. That experience taught me about how larger media organizations approach digital content businesses.

That all brought me here, where I use what I've learned in all of my previous positions. And I'm still learning every day!!!


Are your writers also independent contractors? How is this relationship unique from a traditional staff situation?

I have a long term contract, while my writers are freelancers who work on a per-article basis, so it's a little different and a little more flexible with them. They are fantastic! All are professionals who have worked at/contributed publications including Lucky, Cookie, Domino, People, Forbes and more.

The benefit of working with freelancers for me in this role is that I have license to try working with a variety of people. And if things don't work out, I can easily move on. I can also attract quality contributors who I might not be able to hire for full time positions.

The downside is that at the end of the day, all of the heavy lifting for producing the site falls on me. I can't force anyone else to stay late at the office to add links to an article or copy edit!


What are the most challenging parts of your role?

Balancing everything -- the daily editing of articles, the planning of future editorial calendars, the constant emails and communications back and forth over details...I think people would underestimate how long it takes produce one high quality 500 word story.


What are your favorite things about your position?

The caliber of the people I get to work with -- at eBay and at Edelman (eBay's PR agency, which I work with closely) as well as the amazing crop of writers I've brought on.

I'm super proud of many of the articles our team has turned out.

Among them:

A Q&A with Vena Cava designers Sophie Buhal and Lisa Mayock, who count an octopus preserved in a mason jar among their favorite eBay finds; an interview with Liz Lange and her sister, who reveal a shopping list replete with vintage designer finds; a report on the steampunk fashion trend with a roundup culled from eBay’s 4,200 steampunk-related items; a series on home micro-trends (we call them trendlets), a recent article on Christine Lemieux, the founder of Dwell Studio, and a recent profile of Judy Aldrige of popular blog Atlantis Home, who then wrote a very flattering article about the article on her own site.

I’m also immensely proud of our just-launched $100 Spring Shopping Guide


You have found several entrepreneurial and enterprising roles for yourself. What has been similar in each of them? Where have they allowed you to shine?

I love trying to build a business or figure out a concept that hasn't been done yet -- as opposed to stepping in the shoes of a job that someone else did previously.


What are your goals for The Inside Source in 2010?

More traffic, more great content (cool profiles, unexpected trends), more buzz about the site, more video...I’m looking forward to watching the site grow, and to having it become an even larger player in the online fashion/media space. I’m confident we can ge there!


Stay tuned...more to come about this fascinating woman. Also remember that you can meet Meredith at a ladies lunch on March 24th!

Exciting News from IGC! Coming Soon to a bookstore near you…

We are thrilled to announce that we have confirmed a book deal with Portfolio, which is Penguin’s business imprint! We couldn’t be more excited about this new direction and to be in the company of so many other great books at Portfolio!

Our launch into this new stage was made official by this clip in Publishers Weekly this morning, listed under "Machinist Closes Two". (Thank YOU, Alexandra!)

Our book, tentatively titled, GOOD COMPANY: Entrepreneurship for the rest of us, offers women new thinking and sound advice about what’s really important when building a sustainable, rewarding and enjoyable business – by their own definition.

As we do in our consulting practice and through the In Good Company Workplaces, the book will focus on helping you determine what decisions and business direction is best for YOU based on your goals and needs.

There are so many reasons that we are totally pumped to be writing this book.

We have learned so much from the all women we have worked with over the last 5 years, and it is thrilling to have a vehicle that can share so many of those lessons.

And just as the workspace was one solution to pool resources, share knowledge, and create community, the book is another exciting avenue to accomplish these three goals with a larger group of women entrepreneurs.

We are also really looking forward to complementing the many startup resources out there by engaging in meaningful conversation about what’s important to think about as entrepreneurs after you’ve gotten launched. What are the keys to success in year 1, 2, or 10?

We, ourselves, have been hungering for a book that not only addresses the building business stage but that also highlights a wide range of ventures that are diverse in industry, size, goal, and location and that exhibit a variety of models of entrepreneurship.

GOOD COMPANY is scheduled to come out at the beginning of 2012. But in the meantime, we will be engaged in active conversation on this blog and twitter! We want your input and can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

We will be asking questions about your experiences, solicit feedback on our ideas, and updating you on the interviews and conversations that we are having!

Thank you again for your support!

image courtesy of one woman studio

March inFOCUS: Introducing Meredith Barnett!

Our March inFOCUS program spotlights the fabulous Meredith Barnett, who brilliantly transitioned from entrepreneur to intrapreneur. With a professional background that is equal parts business, fashion, and media, Meredith has found many creative homes for her talents to flourish.

She is currently editorial director of The Inside Source, a digital style magazine presented by eBay about trends in for shopping fashion, home & garden, collectibles and more, and is also co-founder of Store Adore, a personalized, web-based guide to the best boutique shopping around the country and online.

What we love about Meredith & her story:

* She recognizes that smart and style go hand-in-hand, And as you’ll see, she is able to expertly mix business and beauty. Case in point: her resume boasts both a Harvard MBA and a plumb editorial job at Lucky Magazine.

* She is a keen trend spotter who can easily read both the marketplace and industry landscapes.

* She is a master re-inventor. When the economy tanked at just the wrong time, Meredith was able to steer her business to safe ground while simultaneously obtaining another professionally challenging, innovative, and enterprising positions.

* She is candid and insightful about the nature of both the publishing and retail industries and as both models continue to change, she is eager to be at the front of the pack when it comes to figuring out what works best.

As always, we will be writing about Meredith and The Inside Source over the course of the month. And you will have the opportunity to meet and talk with Meredith at our brown bag lunch meeting on March 24^th, from 12-2.