Brief:
- Good Housekeeping magazine has partnered with Amazon and Mall of America to open a pop-up store that will sell household products tested and approved by the Good Housekeeping Institute, the magazine company announced. The GH Lab store will be set up like a mock home that displays more than 150 recommended products from 46 brands such as Affresh, Dyson, Instant Pot, Simple Pleasures and Xbox, according to Adweek. Kenmore also will showcase its Elite Ovation Stand Mixer at the store.
- Amazon will provide mobile payment, ordering and delivery for products featured in the pop-up store, which will display products in dining and living areas. Shoppers need to have an Amazon account and its mobile app to scan SmileCodes with a smartphone to buy the products. The pop-up store will be open Oct. 3 to Dec. 30 for the holiday shopping season.
- Good Housekeeping this week also opened a virtual storefront on Amazon's website called GH Tested that sells products approved by GH Institute's engineers and scientists. The magazine also is running a sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip for four to the Mall of America in Minneapolis.
Insight:
Good Housekeeping's partnership with Amazon and Mall of America on a pop-up store is another example of how mobile technology can work with brick-and-mortar or experiential retailing to provide a more complete shopping experience for consumers. Visitors to the store can see out-of-box demonstrations of products that aren't available in most retail environments, and then have the convenience of ordering and paying for home delivery. Good Housekeeping declined to say what it earns from the partnership with Amazon, according to Adweek, while its affiliate fees range from 1% to 10% depending on the product category.
Good Housekeeping isn't alone in putting its editorial imprimatur on a brick-and-mortar shopping experience. Marie Claire, another Hearst title, last year partnered with Mastercard on the publication's first pop-up store to showcase innovations in fashion, beauty, entertainment, technology and wellness. Marie Claire's Next Big Thing Concept Shop in New York City also had a mobile app to download from the App Store and Google Play. Neiman Marcus stylists provided style advice on the latest selection of designer fashions available at the store. Target, Sephora and Nordstrom are among the major chains that are trying out concept stores with smaller footprints and more mobile-driven and tech-focused experiences.
The Good Housekeeping-Amazon partnership is also a way for the e-commerce giant to bridge the physical and digital worlds with another application of SmileCodes, its branded QR codes on boxes that take users to Amazon product pages or other content with the scan of a smartphone camera. This collaborative pop-up shop comes as the company works to expand its brick-and-mortar presence, with Amazon Books locations and additional cashierless Amazon Go stores.
