E-Commerce Trends In China Influence Startups Outside Of Country
Monogram (Image: TechCrunch)
We hear (and write) a lot about what’s happening in China’s booming yet contentious e-commerce market, but one story that’s flown largely under the radar is how trends in China are starting to influence startups outside of the country. Today, PandoDaily looks at the launch of a new “shoppable fashion magazine,” Monogram, which takes a page from the “kitchen sink” approach of home-grown Chinese e-commerce sites.
Influenced by lessons learned by CEO and co-founder Leo Chen on an 18-month stint in China, the app has a distinctly American look and feel but unmistakably Chinese DNA. Drawing on inspirations like Gilt, Pinterest and Vogue, as well as Chinese sites like Mogujie and Meilishuo, Monogram hopes to be a pioneer in the social shopping space, one in which, as Chen says, “China’s more advanced already.”
Via PandoDaily:
Chinese e-commerce site Shangpin has its own digital magazine
Like sites such as Thrillist, NastyGal, Fab, and Jetsetter — or Chinese platforms like Shangpin — a value-add for Monogram is editorial content, which the new kid on the block has a blend of commerce and editorial in their DNA. For Monogram’s part, the new app will source editorial content for free from bloggers and stylists. While a risker proposition, consistency-wise, compared to Thrillist’s more professional writing team, enlisting these editorial contributors will keep costs down while gaining Monogram some notoriety via cross-promotion.
Going forward, we’re curious to see how the new app fares, and whether more Silicon Valley startups will take a page from the strategy books of Chinese e-commerce and social sharing apps — which, owing to China’s arguably more cut-throat online retail atmosphere — tend to be packed with more features, Swiss Army watch-style, than their US counterparts.