POPSUGAR Launches Universal Fashion-Themed Shopping Cart

POPSUGAR wants to put all fashion shoppers’ purchases into one cart.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the female-skewing content company and retail marketing affiliate will, in April, be transforming its women’s apparel and accessories-centric search engine, ShopStyle, into an all-purpose site (and mobile app) through which shoppers of various retailers can complete their transactions.

The outlet notes that ShopStyle — which POPSUGAR bought back in 2007 — drove $1 billion in revenue to POPSUGAR’s retail partners last year, according to the company’s founder and chief executive, Brian Sugar. While the site’s current purpose is to redirect shoppers to complete their purchases on fashion retailers’ sites, beginning in April, WSJ explains, online and mobile shoppers will be able to fill out a profile, enter their credit card information and make purchases from retailers (currently numbering in the dozens) directly through the ShopStyle site and app.

This expansion of ShopStyle’s capabilities, the outlet adds, was facilitated by POPSUGAR’s purchase of the mobile shopping technology firm Cosmic Cart (which occurred in November).

The story notes that POPSUGAR’s current revenue-sharing arrangement with third-party retailers (wherein the company takes approximately 15 percent of the sales that ShopStyle facilitates) will remain, but POPSUGAR’s thinking is that more consumers syncing their credit card information to ShopStyle will lead to more purchases made from partners, such as Target, Express and Topshop, and, therefore, more revenue for POPSUGAR itself.

Referring to the potential for the new version of ShopStyle on mobile, the outlet shares that 71 percent of POPSUGAR.com and ShopStyle’s traffic comes from such devices.

Telling WSJ that those who visit ShopStyle’s site or app “have intent to shop,” Sugar opined that “with content, [shopping can work] but the user intent isn’t the same. We think there is an opportunity to become the iTunes or App Store of fashion and accessories.”