Unsurprisingly, the leaders in integrating e-commerce with digital magazines are retail and e-commerce companies themselves. However, there are also publications, particularly fashion magazines that have also successfully implemented digital magazines with e-commerce integrations.
If you want to know more about the current state of the publishing industry, we have the perfect content for you.
Today, we will take a look at three digital magazine case studies. Take note that digital magazines have now evolved far from the flip book format. Therefore, we will explore the different ways digital magazines have been integrated with e-commerce.
Boots’ Health & Beauty Magazine
Boots is currently the UK’s top health and beauty retailer. They have more than 2,500 stores across the UK. The company publishes its own digital magazine, Health & Beauty which is currently the UK’s most widely read health and beauty magazine providing advice and feature articles while at the same time showcasing hundreds of its products.
You can freely access the Health & Beauty magazine on their website. When you open the magazine, you are greeted with a message from the editor, just like a regular magazine and at the bottom of the page, you can choose to read the latest issue.
Health & Beauty helps drive in-store sales for Boots and plays a central role in its e-commerce strategy without interrupting their customers’ reading experience. Within featured articles, readers can click and purchase items directly within the page without being redirected and taken away from the article.
All you have to do is click a product that you like and a pop-up will appear allowing you to add the product to your cart. At the end of your reading, you can review your purchases and check out. The customer has read as much as they want without interruption and has shopped on the way, too.
The Edit
Launched in 2013 by Net-A-Porter Group, The Edit is a weekly online and in-app magazine with an integrated e-commerce. Unlike the majority of fashion publication, The Edit is available in many languages such as French, German, and most important Mandarin. Thanks to its variety of languages, this project has become a worldwide success.
How does this digital magazine work? Whether you leaf through its pages online or on the app, the way The Edit works doesn’t change. Just by simply clicking on a product you’ll be redirected on Net-A-Porter’s online shopping, and you’ll immediately be ready to buy everything you wish.
Unlike the Health & Beauty’s one, this purchasing process can be a bit more disruptive to the reading experience as it takes you away to their e-commerce platform once you’ve clicked on a product you’d like to buy.
The Edit is not just an e-commerce! It gives you the chance to discover the latest fashion trends from leading worldwide experts in wellbeing, makeup, skincare and much more. It also allows you to access free interactive contents such as videos or interviews.
HELLO! Fashion Magazine
HELLO! Fashion is the sister publication of the widely popular HELLO! Weekly celebrity magazine and is a magazine first before being a channel for e-commerce. HELLO! Fashion was created using Paperlit.
You need to use HELLO! Fashion’s own magazine app to read issues, making it more distinct and separated from the website compared to Health & Beauty. It also retains the flip book style format that makes it feel more like a proper digital magazine.
As a content-focused magazine, HELLO! Fashion doesn’t interrupt the reading experience as well, similar to the Boots’ magazine. Items chosen for purchase are simply clicked and added to the shopping cart and purchased at the end, allowing readers to enjoy their reading.
Reader experience is key
Hopefully, the three digital magazine case studies gave you a good overview of e-commerce integrated digital magazines.
When creating an e-commerce integrated digital magazine, you shouldn’t forget about reader experience. It’s important for the user not to be interrupted from their reading. After all, they came to the digital magazine to read – if they wanted to go shopping, they could have gone to your e-commerce site.
In the end, having an integrated e-commerce in your digital magazine is a good way to increase your income while at the same time providing an enjoyable experience to your readers.
