Popular Content Becomes Hot Merchandise for Media Companies

Contextual commerce is rapidly expanding as brands try to become more integrated into different parts of consumers’ everyday lives, with shoppable recipes, purchase options within videos and product listings alongside music players popping up across the internet.

Additionally, companies primarily known for just content have been diving headfirst into creating merchandise related to those articles and videos in an effort to keep people’s attention even as they return to in-person gatherings and activities. Earlier this week, for example, lifestyle media company PopSugar said it would be partnering with Target to offer a line of home fitness gear, including yoga mats, weights and other basic equipment, to tie into its Class FitSugar exercise video series.

“We take a data-driven approach to all of our brand licensing programs, and these products were inspired by our top performing fitness and wellness content,” PopSugar Co-founder Lisa Sugar said in a news release.

PopSugar previously offered a business casual clothing line at Kohl’s, a Disney Princess home collection at Target and a gender-neutral clothing line at Old Navy.

Read more: Popsugar Launches Home Fitness Line With Target

Streaming giant Netflix also launched an eCommerce shop in June with merchandise from hit shows such as “Stranger Things” and “The Witcher,” as well as branded Netflix apparel. Since then, the company has added more items from those shows, including a collaboration with General Mills on limited-edition boxes of cereal related to “Stranger Things,” and has also launched products from more recent sensations like “Squid Game.”

Last month, it was revealed that ahead of the second season of “Emily in Paris,” which will debut on Dec. 22, the California-based video platform has teamed with several luxury brands to offer selections of clothing related to pieces worn by star Lily Collins and other characters in the series.

See: Netflix Embraces Contextual Commerce With Fashion Items Tied to Content

The Growth of Shoppable Content

Jason Young, president of digital shopper marketing platform Chicory, told PYMNTS in an interview earlier this year that the day is coming, likely within the next three to five years, “where every contextual commerce content moment is shoppable, where every consumer is given a true frictionless, multi-option path to purchase.”

In the past, Amazon has had something of a monopoly on contextual commerce, with its Amazon Associates affiliate marketing program being the most common shoppable integration. Now, as a range of businesses find alternative ways to integrate commerce into their content, the space is expanding.

“[Amazon] figured out how to play that game well,” Young said. “I think what you’re seeing now — and this is good for the consumer — is that there’s more sophisticated shoppability experience and choice being given to the consumer.”

Rather than being restricted to Amazon’s offerings, he added, consumers can now “choose the retailer that’s most relevant to them.”

Young noted, though that the U.S. has been far from a leader in eCommerce integrations.

“There are other markets globally where contextual shoppability is more of a core part of how products are bought and sold real-time through marketplaces,” he said, adding, however, that the U.S. is quickly catching up.

Read more: Soon All Content Will Be Shoppable, Says Contextual Commerce Platform Chicory