Elle Décor shifts toward ecommerce with shopping and designer directory

March 27, 2017

Elle Décor Shopping is supported by its editorial content

Shelter publication Elle Décor is introducing two new services to its digital presence with Elle Décor Shopping and Elle Décor Designer Directory, signaling a shift toward a hybrid media-commerce model.

The first allows for dedicated ecommerce through the publication's Web site and the second provides a directory of designers and home décor specialists for users to browse through and contact. The shopping component will be a partnership with Dering Hall, whose products can be purchased through Elle Décor.

"We're always thinking about new ways to help our users on the path of discovery to purchase, and we are excited to deepen our partnership with Dering Hall with these launches on elledecor.com," said Michael Mraz, executive director of audience and strategic partnerships at Hearst Magazines Digital Media, New York.

Pages of shopping

Elle Décor has long been a home for luxury home goods, but its main source of revenue has always been advertising.

Now the title is seeking to shake up that model with the introduction of two new features on elledecor.com that give its users new ways to shop through the publication’s Web site.

The first of those features is Elle Décor Shopping. The new ecommerce platform will let elledecor.com users shop from a catalogue of more than 30,000 products curated and handpicked by Elle Décor's editors and experts.

Elle Décor Shopping

Elledecor.com will also natively promote these shoppable products through its editorial online content and navigation menus.

Elle Décor Shopping also gives the site a dedicated ecommerce portal where users can browse, save and compare prices from among the massive catalogue.

The second feature the Hearst-owned titled is introducing is Elle Décor Designer Directory.

This feature adds an index of more than 500 top home décor experts and designers, whose portfolios can be browsed by customers. Through the directory, customers can send inquiries and work requests to those designers.

Designers will also be regularly profiled and promoted through Elle Décor’s online editorial content.

Media to commerce

These new features represent Elle Décor's shift from just a publication to more of a hybrid between publishing and ecommerce.

This type of hybridization is not new in the luxury world and a number of other big publications have upped their ecommerce game recently.

One of the biggest is Style.com, which rebranded recently to be a full-fledged ecommerce platform.

Elle Décor Shopping provides access to Dering Hall's catalogue of products

In April of 2015, Condé Nast announced that Style.com would be rebranded as an ecommerce site that will sell merchandise directly through the desktop sites and digital editions of its publications on mobile applications. When the Style.com ecommerce platform launched, Condé Nast readers were able to scan items in the print magazines with their devices to make a purchase, shortening the path between editorial and commerce (see story).

Hearst's Harper's Bazaar has also taken steps to make its ecommerce platform, ShopBazaar, an integral part of the user experience.

The publication first launched ShopBazaar in 2012 to allow Harper’s Bazaar readers the ability to effortlessly go from discovery point to purchase for a fully immersive experience. The site has now been reimagined to offer highly-edited content and a new look and feel that better reflects Harper’s Bazaar’s design aesthetic (see story).

With Elle Décor Shopping and Elle Décor Designer Directory on the way, Elle Décor will be the next major luxury publication to introduce ecommerce elements into its business model.

"We want to remove as much friction and as many clicks from the process as possible," Hearst Magazine's Mr. Mraz said.

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Elle Décor shifts toward ecommerce with shopping and designer directory

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