“Content and Commerce Belong Together” – Inside Klarna’s New Shopping Event

On August 8th and 9th in the US, the pair will host a 48-hour online shopping event, aptly named ‘Hauliday by Cosmo x Klarna’.

The shopping event is aimed primarily at the next-gen shopper, which falls into the Young Millennials and Gen Z categories. “As a trusted and authentic resource, Cosmo is a path to purchase brand for our readers,” said Nancy Berger, the Senior Vice-Publishing Director at Cosmopolitan, Women’s health and Seventeen. 

“They discover what’s new from Cosmo, and Hauliday is an organic extension of that relationship.”

Hauliday is an event that aims to ‘create a reason to shop’ amongst digital natives. “We really wanted to develop a moment that creates a reason to shop. These generations are digital natives, so we knew that creating a shopping holiday based online was key,” Berger said. “We have seen the success of shopping festivals and knew that it was something our audience would embrace.”

Shopping festivals are growing in popularity amongst the next-gen shopper. In Australia, the beauty leader, Mecca, has hosted a series of physical festivals, Meccaland. This event showcases beauty influencers, new products, gift bags and information session surrounding the beauty industry, and creating a shopping opportunity for the event-goers.

The 2019 event was hosted by creative agency, TABOO, and amassed more than 15,000 attendees over the space of one weekend. “Both TABOO and the Mecca team have aspired to evolve the beauty experience beyond anything done before,” said Reece Hobbins, the Creative Director of TABOO in 2019.

“This means focusing on understanding what today’s ‘beauty junkie’ truly values – not just in a brand or retail experience, but also the cultural relevancy, the entertainment & education factor, and what is actually worthy of their time.”

So, it’s clear that the concept of a shopping festival is a winner amongst the younger generation, so how will Klarna differentiate itself from the others?

The Hauliday event is a blend of opportunity for both Klarna and Cosmo. The Swedish brand currently has eight million shoppers in the US, and this event is an opportunity to create an end-to-end shopping service.

This virtual shopping event will also house brands such as Sephora, Adidas, Lulu’s, H&M, ModCloth and Rue21, among others.

Hauliday brings its wide network into a singular opportunity for brands to expand their current customer base. For Cosmo, the blend of growing a ‘strong and growing affiliate business’ along with its commitment to serve its audience will help resonate with the younger shopper.

“Everything we do at Cosmo is with our audience in mind, and as the largest young women’s media brand in the world, we are able to speak and connect directly with our readers,” Berger said. “We believe that content, engagement and commerce belong together. It’s the future. It’s the now.”

Do you think e-commerce is ready to blend with content creators and publications to develop a new form of online experience? Share your thoughts below.

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