Group Nine Media, the no. 1 video publisher on mobile in the U.S. [source: Nielsen DCR, June 2020], today announced the launch of “Swipe.Shop,” its largest, portfolio-wide, mobile shopping solution ever. Swipe.Shop will feature over 80 bespoke digital storefronts curated from editors across the five Group Nine brands (The Dodo, NowThis, POPSUGAR, Thrillist and Seeker) and spotlight the must-have products this holiday season. Group Nine has committed that 50% of all Swipe.Shop products will be from small business owners, including entrepreneurs Aurora James, Founder & Creative Director, Brother Vellies; Massy Arias, Health Coach & Co-Founder Tru Supplements; Kai Avent-deLeon, Founder, Sincerely, Tommy; Andréa McBride John, CEO and Co-Founder, and Robin McBride, President and Co-Founder, McBride Sisters Collection. 15% of all shelfspace will be reserved for Black-owned businesses.
Sponsors are able to create Swipe.Shop storefronts that evoke their brand’s ethos and pair with a like-minded Group Nine brand. Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Batiste, Corona®, e.l.f. Cosmetics, H&M, Kohl’s and Koolaburra by UGG® are among the first brand partners to leverage Swipe.Shop.
“For this holiday shopping season, we saw a clear opportunity to bridge the gap between mass retail and small business,” said Group Nine’s Chief Creative Officer, Anna Plaks. “Swipe.Shop’s unique offering allows users to dig into a massive collection of ever-evolving products across brands both large and small — and discover them through a purchase path not defined by traditional consumer categories, but curated by editorial and social insights. It reflects how people are actually shopping.”
“Swipe.Shop helps our customers shop conveniently and give the gifts of joy, peace, empathy and love this holiday, especially during this time we all long to be together,” said Gap Chief Marketing Officer, Mary Alderete. “We’re thrilled to be a part of the inaugural launch of the platform, which allows us to create multiple storefronts that embody each brand. Whether shopping Gap, Banana Republic or Old Navy, we’re meeting young mobile shoppers where they’re spending the majority of their browsing time.”
Swipe.Shop is a new mobile shopping experience found on NowThis, The Dodo, POPSUGAR, Thrillist and Seeker’s websites, powered by the real-time trends and insights from Group Nine’s massive audience of over 220M followers who spend more than 90M hours watching Group Nine content monthly [source: internal platform analytics, August 2020]. The Swipe.Shop stores will reflect the different cultural categories that the Group Nine brands lead, which include: food, entertainment, travel, petcare, fitness and wellness, fashion, pop culture, sustainability, news, activism, science, tech, and education among others. Swipe.Shop stores will be promoted across the Group Nine brands’ social media channels in addition to out of home billboards and taxi tops in New York City.
Additional talent partners who are collaborating with Group Nine to launch Swipe.Shop include: activist, Naomi Wadler; Mabel and Shaira Frías, Co-Founders, Luna Magic; author and vegan activist, Haile Thomas; TV host, Danni Washington; multidisciplinary artist, Laci Jordan; Mikey Cole, owner, Mikey Likes Ice Cream; and Lalese Stamps, owner, Lolly Lolly Ceramics.
Group Nine will also extend its pro bono media initiative — designed in April 2020 to combat the effects of COVID-19 — by gifting 10 small businesses over 20M advertising impressions and creative services, on behalf of the Swipe.Shop program.
About Group Nine Media:
Group Nine has the most optimistic, fast moving, deeply connected brands in the categories that matter NOW. As the #1 video publisher on mobile in the U.S. [Nielsen DCR, June 2020], Group Nine’s brands are built for the platforms where young people spend the majority of their time. We reach over 80% of Americans in their 20s every month [Nielsen DCR, June 2020]. Audiences spend over 90 million hours a month engaging with our category-defining brands [platform analytics, August 2020] – NowThis, the no. 1 most-watched news and politics brand globally on social [Tubular Labs, May 2020]; The Dodo, the #1 media brand for reach on mobile in the U.S. [Nielsen DCR, November 2019]; POPSUGAR, the #1 most engaged-with Women’s Lifestyle site in the U.S. [Comscore, February 2020]; Thrillist, the most-trusted digital brand in food, drink, travel & entertainment; and Seeker, the no. 1 science brand on mobile in the U.S. [Nielsen DCR, April 2020]. Group Nine has been recognized with hundreds of prestigious awards including Edward R. Murrow, James Beard, Cannes Lions, Critic’s Choice, among others.
