Flash sales retailer Rue La La is pairing content with commerce for its newest platform, entitled Rue Now, which brings lifestyle and fashion-related news to its site and application visitors, highlighting a desire to cater to on-the-go millennials.

Rue La La is enabling customers to receive access to bite-sized pieces of information in between shopping sessions by incorporating a strong media component into its current mobile offerings. As the retailer sees more than half of its sales come from personal devices, it is hoping to offer more style inspiration to consumers stopping by to peruse its latest sale collections.

“Rue Now was a natural next step for Rue La La,” said Steve Davis, CEO of Rue La La. “A destination for both content and commerce is what our members were craving. They told us that they desired more fashion content, but they didn’t necessarily know where to find it or have time to comb the Web and keep up with all the different sources.

“At Rue, we live in that world daily and naturally explore fashion news each and every moment to stay on top of what’s relevant,” he said. “We know the best sources and bloggers. Now, we are curating up to 15 articles of the most need-to-know fashion news and housing it right where our members are visiting anyway.”

Adapting to the times
The next-generation shopper demands an omnichannel and interactive shopping experience, prompting all digitally-savvy retailers to adapt to this shift by revamping their current offerings. The Rue Now platform mimics other lifestyle-oriented content sites – such as BuzzFeed – with relatable posts and current news, but makes sure to intersperse ads for its own sales items among the articles.

Rue La La claims its members regularly engage with the brand as a media platform by visiting its site or app at least two times a week to stay up-to-date on beauty trends and new fashion brands. The retailer hopes the Rue Now platform will complement its shopping boutiques by giving fans quick access to inspirational news – all of which can be consumed in short bursts.

Consumers may visit Rue Now by typing now.ruelala.com into their mobile browsers, or visiting the brand’s app.

The site greets individuals with a 35-second welcome clip. Mobile users may then scroll down to view the latest content, which spans a variety of categories such as fashion, beauty, living and men.

Recent articles discuss the best type of cookware to purchase, highlight a visit to the set of HBO’s Girls series and debate the fashion looks debuted at the Oscars.

Every few articles, users will spot an ad enticing them to “shop now” on Rue La La, a tactic which could drive impromptu purchases among shopping enthusiasts.

“We heard from our members that they were hungry for more fashion content and that was a major reason for the development of Rue Now,” Mr. Davis said. “Rue Now complements the shopping experience on Rue La La and we certainly feel it will drive style inspiration for our members.

“As for driving sales, time will tell, but since we have been in beta testing, we have seen that our members are engaging more frequently,” he said. “On average, our members visit Rue approximately 2 times per week.

“Our testing period for #RueNow showed that approximately 20 percent of our members were engaging with the content daily.”

The bite-sized pieces of content will undoubtedly appeal to many fashion-conscious consumers who are accustomed to receiving style inspiration from bloggers and influencers on social media.

Rue La La is not the only brand relying on new platforms to entice millennials.

Time Inc. is also taking a mobile-first stance on two new Web sites that focus on beauty and career content, furthering the brand’s appeal to women (see story).

Betting on mobile
Rue La La has enjoyed a fruitful year in mobile – in terms of sales and traffic – proving that consumers are increasingly looking for ways to shop while on-the-go.

A Rue La La executive at eTail West 2016 claimed that the flash sales retailer prefers giving its app users access to exclusive features, such as the ability to shop limited-time sale items before they are available on desktop, to boost loyalty and mobile sales (see story).

“Mobile is very important for Rue; it’s where we see nearly 60 percent of sales and over 70 percent of our traffic,” Mr. Davis said. “Our members are frequenting the Rue app while on-the-go and as a brand, we wanted to ensure that we were giving our members an easy and seamless experience.

“Now, during any splice of time our members have – they can quickly open the app and check out the most up-to-date style stories from across the Web at any given moment.”