NEW YORK CITY—As if Amazon and all the others weren't enough competition in the e-commerce wars, along comes a new entrant that targets what had been a bastion of brick-and-mortar shopping: the luxury boutique.
Spring, a new app for iPhone and iPod touch, offers what it calls a “curated community of brands” that include luxury and emerging designers including Oscar de la Renta, Tracey Reese and Jason Wu, beauty, etc. Shoppers can enter each designer's site or by category, and buy with a swipe.
"Consumers love the seamless life apps offer, but nothing existed like that for shopping," said Alan Tisch, co-founder and CEO in the app's launch announcement. "Spring is a truly unique retail experience for both customers and brands that makes going shopping on your phone easy and exciting."
What makes Spring a bit different from Amazon, et al. is that the brand controls the presentation and inventory to be posted. And the app works with the designers' e-commerce system. There's no pesky (and pricey) storage of goods in Spring-owned distribution centers.
In the name of research, I downloaded the app and clicked around. It really is geared to fashionistas and those who know what brands they want to follow. And the brands with a few exceptions do skew toward younger adults, who already live much of their lives online.
Not all of the brands are world-renowned. But names such as Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen, BLK DNM and Oliver Peoples (all listed as “coming soon”) have been opening stores in major cities (and likely would follow the usual path of opening in luxury malls right after.) And not all of the names are high-end: among the list are Joe Fresh and Warby Parker, the latter a click-to-brick convert.
Will Spring be another tool in a brand's arsenal? Who knows? But apps such as this should be examined as a possible competitor – and a possible source of new retailers.
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