by Lauren Indvik on MashableOnline retailers have become a growing threat to lifestyle magazines over the past few years, hiring away influential editors and building their own magazine-like interactive spreads.
Now magazines are fighting back — by establishing online shops of their own.
Time Out New York, a weekly print and digital magazine covering film, theater, fashion, food and other local happenings in the New York City area, has announced that it won’t just be advertising tickets to shows and other events; it will also begin selling them. The publication introduced a redesigned website and city guide apps for iPad and iPhone devices Tuesday, through which readers will be able to purchase tickets.
This isn’t a simple affiliate scheme; Time Out New York will be managing its own inventory, a spokesperson tells Mashable.
The publication has pursued affiliate schemes as well. Visitors will be able to book restaurant reservations on the site through a relationship with OpenTable. The magazine will also begin selling discounts on events and services through partnerships with daily deal providers.
The drive to ecommerce is being driven by investors, the publication indicated in a statement. Oakley Capital Investments, a private equity fund, took a majority stake in the Time Out Group last year. The company has since made more than 60 digital hires, and partnered with digital and mobile startups including Foursquare.
We expect the move into online retail will become a trend among lifestyle magazines seeking to compensate for declining print ad revenues. Many magazines have already incorporated scannable 2D barcodes into their print editions in an attempt to drive sales at advertisers’ mobile websites.
Others have partnered with retailers in affiliate and promotional schemes. Vogue, for instance, sold merchandise directly from its website through a partnership with fashion retail startup Moda Operandi during New York Fashion Week last September.
Source: http://mashable.com/2012/04/10/time-out-new-york-ecommerce/
