Olivia Palermo Said Readying E-commerce Platform
Is Olivia Palermo rethinking the online shopping experience?
The fashion entrepreneur, whose collaboration with the late Karl Lagerfeld’s brand bows in June, is preparing to unveil an e-commerce platform, WWD has learned. The platform will live on Palermo’s web site and will have a multibrand boutique element. It will focus on bags, shoes and accessories to start, and will include collaborations that Palermo has created, including her forthcoming one with the Lagerfeld label.
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A pop-up box on Palermo’s web site was an indicator that a change to its content was in the works. “Big things coming soon,” reads the box, which prompts users to sign up for e-mail alerts.
The web site currently includes clips of Palermo’s modeling and design work, as well as general information about her. There is also a link to her collaboration with sunglass brand Westward Leaning; however, users aren’t yet able to shop the collection on Palermo’s site and are instead redirected to Westward Leaning’s.
As the note on her web site indicates, big changes are in the works at Palermo’s brand. The forthcoming e-commerce platform is said to be complemented by and grounded in editorial content. It is not yet clear exactly what kind of content Palermo will cover, though she seems to be positioning herself not only as an entrepreneur, but a fashion authority.
As WWD recently reported, Palermo has partnered with the social media experts at creative collective Beekman Social, headed by former Vanity Fair social media director Jeffrey Tousey. According to Tousey, Beekman and Palermo have grown her Instagram following organically by 1 million over the past year. Palermo, who now has 5.9 million Instagram followers, garnered more than 100,000 new followers in February alone. The growth is so rare, said Tousey, that Instagram now uses the account as a case study.
Palermo has taken a noticeably elevated approach to content in recent months. In January, Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri walked Palermo through the house’s archival collection — access that is generally granted only to the most initiated in the fashion industry. Palermo also did a takeover for the luxury house and was granted a first look at its spring 2019 couture show.
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