Vogue China, the Chinese edition of Condé Nast-owned fashion magazine Vogue, has begun offering its online followers a "see now buy now" option for the autumn collection of British fashion label Stella McCartney. The feature launched on July 25 within its WeChat Mini Program, "VogueMINI."
Vogue China introduced the new Mini Program in late June and announced its collaboration with the brand in a WeChat post, which is rife with alluring images and GIFs featuring celebrities (both from China and around the world) dressing in Stella McCartney.
The post also gives readers a detailed look at the brand's new designs, putting the spotlight on a number of individual items from the latest edition. An internal link directs users to the product pages located within the VogueMINI program where consumers can check the price and place orders.
By time of publication, the WeChat post had been read by 23,684 users and liked by 116 people.
The above image is the product page of Stella McCartney's Sneak-Elyse sneakers. The top of page has a slideshow that showcases the shoes in all the available colors. Some basic information of the product follows with more photos and a size guide to facilitate the shopping process.
In addition, WeChat users can chat directly with customer service by clicking on a small grey icon on the page. The Sneak-Elyse shoes is currently selling at 5,200 yuan (770) on the platform. The price is around 75 higher than the same product being offered on Stella McCartney's U.S website. For the moment, Chinese consumers can only purchase goods with WeChat Pay.
Aside from the e-commerce feature, the VogueMINI program has a strong editorial spin that tries to fuse content and commerce to provide its reader with fresh ideas and creative shopping experiences. The program is similar to Net-A-Porter, the leading luxury e-commerce website that is known for its brilliant editorial content.
Turning WeChat into a social e-commerce tool is a great strategic move by the 100-year-old fashion magazine to extend its business into e-commerce in this rapidly-changing digital era in order to better serve the needs of the digitally-savvy wealthy Chinese.
In recent years, an increasing number of international luxury brands, such as Cartier, Dior and Longchamp, have flocked to WeChat to establish e-commerce boutiques and that strategy has proved highly effective in luring in money from consumers in China.