MOMOKO MASHUPS

Future of Retail: Gilt Groupe’s Launch Into Content

Aside from focusing on social media to engage brands, the future of engagement for retail brands will consist of not only the e-commerce platform, but another platform that informs, entertains, and spreads culture to its target audiences. This article from WSJ elaborates:

“The trend comes as the e-commerce and media industries are searching for new sources of growth. For America’s $140 billion online retail industry, which has largely built itself on convenience and price, adding entertainment and information to the mix offers powerful new lures. Media companies are embracing e-commerce as a supplement to online advertising, whose growth has slowed and which is being spread across a widening number of sites.“

A recent beautiful example is Gilt Groupe, the online flash sale site that has changed the way e-commerce shopping works. Instead of showcasing infinite products for an infinite time period (like Amazon) that relies on the longtail approach, Gilt hosts sales of specific items for a max of 24 hours, and the products manage to sell out. The next day at noon is another sale where there are new products, giving the repeat shopper an incentive to come back ever more frequently.

It’s not only about the uber hot luxury brands they feature on its e-commerce site, it’s about Gilt, the retailer.

Gilt created the Gilt MANual, The Daily Guide for Permanent Style: Men’s Fashion, Gear, Travel to strengthen the retail brand as well as be an authority in men’s fashion, design trends, and a place where guys can seek style advice. This is another way to really engage in the target audience, the blog is not only re-enforcing the retail brand story, but also providing more personality, and ultimately entertaining the Gilt shopper for top-of-mind brand awareness.

A Day in the Life of NYTimes.com

Mesmerized by the frequency and pulse of readers on the web and on mobile, I found this to be an interesting concept. View the video and knock yourself out.

Have you ever wondered where the readers of The New York Times’s Web site come from, and what kind of devices they use to read our content? In a past life, not too long ago, when I worked in The Times’s research and development labs, we started a research visualization project to explore this very topic. Continue reading…

Visionaire 57: A Plug-In, Electric Magazine

This post was originally published on PSFK.com

The fashion and art publication Visionaire has continuously used a variety of unique formats to present its content. For the 57th issue, the publication draws inspiration from the two-seater Smart Fortwo car. Visionaire 57 “2010″ will be the first plug-in electric issue in the publication’s history. As seen in the photo above, the plug is shaped like Daimler’s compact automobile. Continue reading…

Roxy Paine’s Maelstrom: Dendroids in the City

This article originally appeared on PSFK.com.

With a peculiar sculpture piece based on a system of “Dendroids,” American artist Roxy Paine has created a 130-foot-long by 45-foot-wide stainless-steel sculpture at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roof Garden. It is an interesting combination of concepts – Paine uses both mechanical means and the innate logic of natural forms to create his “Dendroid” tree-like sculptures. Like in nature, these are a series of vascular networks, tree roots, mushrooms, and fungal mycelia. His meticulous research and observation of a variety of tree species help him to understand the nuances of how a tree grows. Paine has said:

“I’ve processed the idea of a tree and created a system for its form. I take this organic majestic being and break it down into components and rules. The branches are translated into pipe and rod.”

Continue reading…