{"id":48841,"date":"2019-09-09T11:30:30","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T10:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/?p=48841"},"modified":"2019-09-09T11:30:32","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T10:30:32","slug":"writers-and-retail-collide-in-the-convergence-of-publishing-and-ecommerce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/writers-and-retail-collide-in-the-convergence-of-publishing-and-ecommerce\/","title":{"rendered":"Writers and retail collide in the convergence of publishing and ecommerce"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you think the retail landscape is changing fast with the internet affecting everything, try being a publisher. The simple days of producing glossy monthlies packed with luxury advertising are over as brands shift marketing money to digital platforms. Quality journalism is expensive, and the only way to pay for it today, some have concluded, is to start selling watches and accessories online. Tom Mulraney browses through the current offers and asks whether obvious conflicts of interest can be accommodated.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that traditional media businesses are in a state of flux. Shrinking circulation, increased competition and ever diminishing advertising budgets have many publishers scrambling to find alternative sources of revenue.<\/p>\n

As a result, a popular trend has emerged. Something that I have termed \u201ctransactional publishing\u201d. Traditional media companies that are increasingly behaving like retailers.<\/p>\n

Spurred on by the success of e-commerce giants like Net-a-Porter and FarFetch, which use magazine-style content to attract and engage audiences, many publications are now trying to adopt similar models. With varying degrees of success.<\/p>\n

The watch industry is by no means immune to this. A number of prominent watch publications have entered the realm of transactional publishing in recent times. Whether it\u2019s proving to be a successful strategy or not is difficult to say. After all, as any retailer reading this will know, there\u2019s a big difference between getting someone in your store, versus getting them to actually buy something. Likewise, it\u2019s unclear the impact this is having on how readers perceive these publications. And their ongoing ability to provide impartial, unbiased thoughts and opinions on products they may or may not also be selling (or, just as importantly, products that are competitors to the ones they\u2019re selling.)<\/p>\n

So, what is transactional publishing and why has it risen to such prominence in recent years? You won\u2019t find an official definition of this term anywhere, at least not as it relates to online retail. That\u2019s because I made it up. Essentially, it\u2019s a broad term I use to describe publishers who are attempting to generate sales directly as a result of the content they publish.<\/p>\n

Now, you could make the argument that the role of publishers has always been to generate sales from the content they create. And to some degree I would agree with you. The difference being, traditionally they were generating these sales for someone else. There\u2019s also the matter of informing and entertaining their audiences, but this is of secondary importance. At least in the eyes of the brands that partner and advertise with such publications.<\/p>\n

Of course, publishers have not invented this \u201cnew\u201d business model. In fact, you could argue that many have been very late to the party. Rather it is the growing global trend towards content marketing that has seen it flourish. It sounds like a hot new buzz word, but in reality, savvy entrepreneurs have been using this strategy to sell things for centuries. For example, Benjamin Franklin issued the Poor Richard\u2019s Almanack to promote his printing business all the way back in 1732.<\/p>\n

E-commerce businesses like Mr Porter (now owned by Richemont) and FarFetch have been built around a core strategy of positioning themselves as expert arbiters of taste and style. Recognising early on that shoppers are increasingly happy to take fashion advice from retailers, these businesses \u2013 and many others like them – developed in-house publishing divisions producing traditional glossy magazines, newspapers and supplements for their customers along with prodigious volumes of articles for distribution across websites and social media.<\/p>\n

As Mr Porter managing director Toby Bateman explained in an interview with WatchPro<\/em> last year<\/a><\/strong><\/span>,<\/span> content is key to acquiring new customers to its watch business because it gets picked up across the web and social media. The difference of course is that these businesses started out life as e-commerce retailers. They may act like publishers in some ways, but they are very much built on a retail foundation, with the product and infrastructure to match.<\/p>\n

Seeing the acceptance and success of this model, it\u2019s only natural that publishers themselves are now attempting to close the loop. Meaning they are also selling (or at least offering for sale) some or all of the products they are writing about. As well as supposedly providing impartial reviews of the competing products they don\u2019t sell. At this point, you might be thinking that surely this represents a not insignificant conflict of interest. Or at the very least challenges the concept of journalistic objectivity. And certainly, there is some validity to this concern. But at the same time, publishers\u2019 heavy reliance on advertising dollars to stay afloat could also potentially be cast in the same light.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

IN DEPTH: The making of Mr Porter according to managing director Toby Bateman<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n