Fluid delivers the first productized solution for creating interactive merchandising widgets; delivers results for The North Face
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., January 22, 2008 – Facilitating a significant evolution in the retailer/consumer relationship, Fluid, Inc., developers of innovative online retail solutions that drive conversion and brand loyalty, today introduced Fluid Social, the fastest, easiest way for companies to create interactive merchandising widgets for social networking sites and personal pages such as iGoogle, blogs, Facebook and MySpace. Part of the Fluid Retail merchandising suite, which has been deployed by dozens of retailers, Fluid Social enables companies to leverage the assets already in use in their online store to create rich-media branded widgets.
Going beyond the flurry of one-off widgets many retailers are rushing to push out the door, Fluid Social is the first productized solution for distributed merchandising. Its full-featured administrative tools make it possible for marketers and merchandisers to control both brand and product content displayed in widgets in real time, without involvement from engineers. This means the widget’s content remains fresh, relevant and in sync with their on-site merchandising strategies.
Already in use by JanSport and The North Face, Fluid Social allows merchandisers to control social network merchandising as easily as they are able to control the content on their own sites. Fluid Social works with the other components of the Fluid Retail merchandising suite so widgets can be constantly updated even after the consumer has embedded them. Product assortment in widgets and Google Gadget Ads can be updated manually or can be controlled by merchandising rules that utilize data from a variety of back-office systems including the ecommerce platform, analytics package, customer reviews, inventory system or any number of third-party data sources. This ensures that widgets that have been embedded in pages for weeks or even months are still featuring products that are in stock and seasonally appropriate. This is in contrast to many widgets which feature static content that quickly becomes outdated, loses its appeal and is dropped from pages. The North Face snow sports gadget for iGoogle can be embedded by visiting: http://www.google.com/ig/adde?source=ignsrc1&moduleurl=http%3A//www.defy.tv/ggadget/gadget.xml.
"Increasingly, the conversation about brands is moving outside the walls of the web store, and buying decisions are being influenced through all manner of user generated content: blogs, social networking sites and customer reviews," said Andy Lloyd, Fluid CEO. "Forward-looking brands are participating in this conversation without controlling it. To do so requires a change in the retailer/consumer relationship: Brands must give shoppers timely and engaging content and offers where they spend their time. Fluid Social, along with the rest of the Fluid Retail suite, facilitates this participation by accelerating the delivery of interactive widgets that showcase products and engage customers in a fun way."
The North Face is using Fluid Social and other Fluid Retail components to engage consumers across the Internet through a "Video of the Day" promotion. Users are able to upload videos of themselves participating in snow sports and The North Face uses those videos as both a Google Gadget Ad which runs on highly targeted snow sports sites as well as on consumers’ iGoogle pages. The widget features a fresh video every day - either a user-contributed clip or a video of The North Face’s own Snowsports team. Interactive merchandising components allow consumers to explore an assortment of products while watching the video. These interactive components can be any of Fluid Retail’s interactive technologies including the ability to zoom, rotate or change the color of the products without leaving the site they are visiting.
"Fluid Social enables The North Face to distribute its branded content to people where they spend their time online. By pushing content to where these people are we are able to engage them with our products and brand even before they arrive at our site," said Joe Flannery, Vice President of Marketing at The North Face. "Better yet, we can change both the featured content and products easily ourselves. This allows us to keep the content fresh and extend the lifespan of these widgets. Through the combination of Fluid Social and Google Gadget Ads we are able to provide merchandising that is micro-targeted to the community where the widget is deployed – skiing for skiers, climbing for climbers, hiking for hikers – that keeps the relationship both fresh and meaningful."
"We are seeing a flood of great widget ideas from our existing customer base, from ‘Product of the Day’ promotions to special sale offers being pushed through social networks," said Brian Biggs, Director of Product Management at Fluid. "What really makes our offering unique is the flexibility of the Fluid Retail suite. We have both the ability to create automated merchandising rules to keep product assortment fresh and the interactive components that engage shoppers, allowing them to explore and emotionally connect with products from within the social networking site. We’re the only product available with these capabilities."
The Fluid Retail merchandising suite delivers richly interactive Web 2.0 presentation components that enrich the shopping experience and increase conversion rates. Fluid Retail also includes a business intelligence component that allows non-technical marketers to control and automate merchandising based upon enterprise and other relevant back-end data. Delivered as software as a service (SaaS), Fluid Retail helps online merchants engage shoppers, increase conversion, and get their job done more efficiently and effectively.
Availability and Pricing
Fluid Social is available now. Please contact Fluid at sales@fluid.com or 415-369-3240 for pricing and other information.
About Fluid, Inc.
Fluid creates engaging online retail experiences that drive conversion, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Founded in 1990, Fluid has a customer list that includes major online retailers such as Reebok, Timberland, JanSport, Design Within Reach and The North Face, among others. More information about Fluid is available at www.fluid.com.
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Contact:
Evans Public Relations, Inc.
Nicole Conley, 310-743-5052
nicole@evanspublicrelations.com
Source: Fluid, Inc.