The emergence of eCommerce as \u201cservice journalism\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou go to the front page of Amazon, you try to buy a gift for someone. You have literally every option under the sun,\u201d says<\/a> Ben Gafni<\/a>, VP Business Development at StackCommerce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo the best publishers aren\u2019t just presenting people with a list of deals and discounts, they\u2019re using the power of their voice to talk about things that people might not have heard about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Outlets such as Dennis Publishing and New York Media, often describe this type of activity as a form of \u201cservice journalism.\u201d Discussing the launch of the Strategist in November 2016, David Haskell, New York Media\u2019s editor for business and strategy, wrote<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur Strategist editors are first in their class at helping readers navigate life\u2026 In its digital form, the Strategist will apply its service journalism to online shopping \u2014 which has fast become where most of us buy most of our stuff \u2014 with extremely useful shopping advice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s an approach that Marie Claire UK\u2019s former Managing Director Justine Southall<\/a> also recognised. At the launch of the brand\u2019s shopping platform Marie Claire Edit<\/a> in 2018 noting<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe job we do as magazines is to inspire, curate, edit, recommend and help our readers and customers make choices. Marie Claire has tried to anticipate the way that women want to engage with us and to shop, and with Fabled by Marie Claire and now with the launch of Marie Claire Edit, we have taken that into new territory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now the power and influence of Marie Claire\u2019s trusted fashion editors extends even further to offer brands and retailers a new way to engage with consumers through quality native content.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n eCommerce activity like this, which often heavily features advice and recommendations, risks blurring the traditional church and state lines that many publishers have in place. As a result, these manoeuvers need to carefully navigated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One key reason for this, as the New York Times has effectively observed<\/a>, is that the lines between many of these content areas are effectively becoming murkier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMagazines have long blurred the line between commerce and editorial content, tacitly supporting advertisers in their fashion shoots. Recently, some have begun venturing into e-commerce with various products in their pages (sometimes even taking a cut of each transaction). Stylists and photographers who produce editorial shoots are often the same ones behind ad campaigns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This can enable brands to benefit from a consistent look and feel, but for audiences it risks muddying the waters between editorial, eCommerce and advertising. Moreover, as the Times notes, \u201csynergy like this, where the dots are connected out in the open, is rare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Editors and publishers work hard to develop trust among their core audience. However, as they expand further into the realms of eCommerce there\u2019s a risk that this may be eroded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As Raju Narisetti<\/a>, Global Publishing Director Elect at McKinsey & Company, and the former CEO of Gizmodo Media Group, explains<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPutting in \u2018buy\u2019 buttons just because you have a big audience is a failed idea, but if you think about it as commerce becoming a byproduct of your reader trust \u2014 and trust being the main product \u2014 then I think you have the ability to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In reviewing numerous websites for last year\u2019s report, The Publisher\u2019s Guide to Ecommerce<\/a>, I found little consistency in signposting and labeling eCommerce related content. It was often unclear if clicking on links to recommended products might result in payment to a publisher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s an issue which clearly needs to be addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, in some cases, these arrangements would be clearly signposted in one area of a site, but not in another. It was confusing, to say the least. Publishers need to ensure that they offer a consistent user experience across their sites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, few sites also explained – or had clear links to – their editorial policy, and how this influenced (or not) the products they wrote about, or the external links that they provided. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With levels of trust in the media and journalism, around the world<\/a>, at low levels, there may be merit in the industry as a whole thinking about the use of common labels and terms, to ensure consistency of experience (and transparency) for their audiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In a world<\/a> of shoppable ads, branded content, native advertising, affiliate links and marketing, as well as the rapid rise of recommendation focused<\/a> journalism and websites, helping audiences to differentiate between these types of content is essential. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Publishers and journalists may be able to discern the difference, and make decisions accordingly, but we should not assume the same level of media literacy among audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trust is hard to gain, but easy to squander. Given this, it\u2019s imperative that publishers are transparent – when it comes to eCommerce especially – about their editorial processes and the financial implications of consumer behaviours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe don\u2019t accept unsolicited product,\u201d Ganda Suthivarakom<\/a>, Special Projects Editor at Wirecutter, told Vox<\/a>, while Acting Editor-in-Chief for the site. \u201cWe have the same DNA as the Times, and we know that reader trust is the most important asset we have. We can never squander that, because without it, we don\u2019t have a business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jessica Spira<\/a>, Wirecutter\u2019s former director of revenue, and now VP Partner Growth and Management at Ziff Davis, has previously<\/a> outlined how Wirecutter might publish product recommendations irrespective<\/em> of the financial dynamic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn some cases, we don\u2019t have a relationship with anyone or otherwise they are products that just don\u2019t have affiliate programs,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really about the reader first, and if our editorial team has decided this guide is a reader service and needs to be published, it gets published.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spira also explained how Wirecutter was careful to only link out to vendors with deliver excellent customer service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to list the retailers that we believe in in terms of whether they have good return policies. They\u2019re reputable. Their customer service is good. Their return policies are good,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have confidence that the experience our reader will have at a merchant is a good one. If we don\u2019t feel that way we won\u2019t include that merchant. A merchant could say, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m going to pay you an enormous rate,\u2019 and if it\u2019s not a merchant that our business team feels is reputable, we will not surface them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The implicit implication is that a poor experience will reflect badly on Wirecutter, even if the entire transactional relationship is handled through a third party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Understanding this is an important consideration for publishers venturing into eCommerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, publishers also need to ensure a consistency of user experience across their brands. One way to address this, as Dennis Publishing has done, is to centralise content monetisation efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According<\/a> to Skimlinks – a commerce content monetization platform, whose clients include<\/a> Dennis Publishing, major retailers, and \u201chalf of the top content publishers in the US & UK,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n this type of central organisation \u201censures [that] best practices on creating and promoting commerce-related content are communicated consistently to the editorial team.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n At Dennis, it also meant \u201cacross the portfolio of brands, teams are supplied with content strategy around e-commerce results so they understand how best to use this data to inspire content creation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ensuring a consistency of approach – behind the scenes, onsite and in terms of eCommerce fulfilment – are all important eCommerce considerations for publishers. Inconsistency in any of these areas risks consumer blowback, adverse feedback that few publishers can afford at a time when their eCommerce efforts are often so nascent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cContent, community, and commerce when combined effectively have fuelled financial wins for many businesses, but not a lot of them have been newspaper and magazine publishers,\u201d notes Nikolay Malyarov<\/a>, the CEO, International & Chief Content Officer at PressReader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Malyarov, in a 2019 opinion piece published<\/a> by FIPP, argues that publishers are stuck in a rut, obsessing over the future of advertising and subscriptions. \u201cIncome diversification is fundamental to survival,\u201d he says, \u201ceven if the long-term potential of some ideas are, as yet, unproven.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n For many organisations, eCommerce arguably falls into that category. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no single model for publishers to pursue; and eCommerce is a label that covers a multitude of revenue opportunities; ranging from affiliate relationships through to developing (and selling) your own products, as well as leveraging consumer insights for financial gain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As eCommerce continues to become more pervasive<\/a>, and purposeful social media behaviours – such as using social networks to research, find and buy, products – further nudge eCommerce forward<\/a>, platforms, retailers, publishers and content creators alike, will all – inevitably – strive to grab their own slice of the eCommerce pie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For those interested in exploring this space, there are lots of ideas out there, and examples of publishers who are successfully embracing eCommerce (to varying degrees). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in 2018, Digiday found<\/a> that \u201cfor most publishers these revenue streams [eCommerce] are nascent and supplemental income rather than core components of their revenues. Less than 10 percent of publishers in the Digiday survey said eCommerce was responsible for more than 25 percent of their revenues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jump forward two years, and that may already have begun to change, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic potentially reshapes our relationship with retail; and the woes of the advertising industry further emphasises the need for publishers to diversify their revenue streams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n eCommerce will never be a panacea for media companies, but it can be an essential plank of efforts to create multiple revenue streams. Subsequently, this is a trend no publisher – large or small – can afford to overlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This article has been adapted, updated, and expanded, from our free to download report, <\/em><\/strong>The Publisher\u2019s Guide to eCommerce<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/846f1988029c99a9b496db9a1dfcce5e2856714-1024x560.jpg\")
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Via<\/em><\/a>: Fashion Network<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWill eCommerce mean the end of Church and State?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Practical steps publishers can take to build trust<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Highlighting by the author for illustrative purposes.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhy transparency and consistency matters<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a>Moving forward<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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