Glam.com and AOL Team Up to Allow Women to Shop Together Online
New Interactive Fashion and Shopping Site Utilizes the AIM Service to Offer Shoppers Real-Time Communications
San Francisco, CA - Thursday, October 6, 2005 - Glam.com, the first website to offer magazine-quality fashion and beauty editorial with embedded e-commerce, today announced an agreement with AOL. Under the terms of the agreement, Glam will integrate the AIM service into the Glam.com site and make real-time text, voice, and video communication available to all Glam users. The combination of AIM and Glam.com allows women shoppers to more closely replicate the social nature of shopping offline.
Using the AIM service on Glam.com, visitors will be able to share links to merchandise they find on the site, chat about the items in real-time, and browse and shop together online. They will also be able to see when friends or other shoppers are on Glam.com and can connect instantly. Shoppers can send each other instant messages with product images and links, look at outfits together, share opinions, and weigh in on purchase decisions for the first time ever.
“Working with AOL to offer the AIM service to our user base reinforces our commitment to provide our customers with a revolutionary approach to online shopping,” said Samir Arora, Founder and Chairman of Glam Media, Inc. “Now Glam.com users can have a unique, fun, and convenient experience shopping online with friends, enjoying the social pleasures of shopping that were previously limited to the offline world.”
Glam.com will also have regularly scheduled live AIM chats with fashion designers, professional stylists, retail buyers, and editors, enabling direct interaction between users and fashion experts on topics such as new collections, beauty product tips, and upcoming trends.
“Shopping is a very social activity, and people like to bounce fashion ideas off friends or family members before they buy. We are extremely pleased to be joining forces with Glam to bring that fun offline experience to life on the Web,” said Chamath Palihapitya, vice president and general manager of AIM and ICQ, America Online, Inc. “With high-quality voice and video services now fully integrated, the AIM service will let Glam shoppers chat in any way they like, with friends old and new.”
Features and Benefits:
- Glam.com visitors can use the AIM service on Glam.com
- Glam.com will be seamlessly integrated with the U.S.’s No. 1 instant-messaging network
- Easy AIM download for new Glam.com users
- New Glam.com users get an AIM account and a screen name when they register at Glam.com
- Users can see their Shopping Buddies on Glam.com and, with one click, invite them to shop together
- Users can see and virtually shop with any member who is online on Glam.com
- Users can send and receive any Glam.com pages to each other or to any AIM user
- Users can also use the Mobile AIM service for shopping
AOL will introduce Glam.com to its users by including information on Glam.com on AIM Today (http://www.aimtoday.com), the companion programming screen that opens when a user launches the AIM client.
Log on to www.glam.com for additional information.
About Glam.com
Glam Media, with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York, is one of the first companies to bring together the worlds of high technology, fashion, and publishing. Glam has built a category-creating website that completely alters the online shopping experience. Glam Media is backed by the blue-chip venture capital firms Accel Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, WaldenVC, and Information Capital. Glam Media, Inc. is led by seasoned executives from media, publishing, technology, and fashion companies such as Armani, eBay, NetObjects, Tickle, Versace, and Yahoo. The editorial staff of the company is led by professionals from Vogue, In Style, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times, and Ziff Davis.
Media contact:
Hillary Houser
Spark PR
(415)321-1877
hillary@sparkpr.com
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