Community-Curated Content a Key Differentiator for E-Commerce Firms: Report

With more and more consumers spending time and money online, several online shopping platforms like Myntra and Cooliyo are using community-curated content to cement their customer base.

"Digital marketing through community-curated content is a rising trend, and will help e-commerce platforms grow relevant customers," Cooliyo Co-Founder and Chief Executive Mangesh Panditrao told PTI.

Inspired by the likes of social platforms Pinterest and Tumblr, Cooliyo is a community-curated collection of products across online stores, he added.

The portal is owned by two-year-old start-up Shoptimize India, which is an end-to-end e-commerce solutions provider for retailers looking to set up an online presence and acts as an aggregator of hand-picked products.

Cooliyo offers niche e-retailers a common platform with industry biggies such as Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and Jabong to showcase their products.

As consumers spend more time and money online for social networking, shopping, entertainment, and services, consumer behaviour and usage patterns are likely to become increasingly important to gauge, according to a report by Goldman Sachs.

"Thus online companies with proprietary access to data would be able to build much better brands and prove to be a key differentiator," opined the report.

Online fashion retailer Myntra, which recently converted itself as 'mobile-only' e-retail platform, is also focusing on building a community user-base akin to a social media platform.

In a blogpost last week, Myntra, owned by the largest domestic online marketplace Flipkart, hinted at launching an updated version of its mobile application that offers an option to set up a user profile, and other features including a 'like' button to recommend products.

"For the first time, set up your own profile with room for your personal information, profile picture and more," the Myntra blog said.

Mirroring the trend, beauty and wellness community StyleCraze, which already has a strong content community, is also now focusing on this.

"We have the content in place, and will focus on communities and commerce this year. This typically builds a moat around your business," Sangram Simha, Chief Executive of IncNut Digital, the parent company of StyleCraze said.

He pointed out that StyleCraze gets 14 million unique visitors a month, and is looking to launch "a complete online destination for women" in the next few years.

IncNut will launch three networks for weddings, interior decor and food during the year.