retail

For Holidays, Bloomingdale's Turns Zoomingdale's; Macy's Sells High-Tech Wallet

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‘Tis the season for digital daring, and this year, Bloomingdale’s is going all-out with a new Instagram effort, showcasing some 500 eclectic gift ideas, all pegged to the hashtag #Zoomingdales.

The ads include four clever, detailed photo collages, and when followers click on the items, it takes them to microsites that allow them to shop for everything from scarves to jewelry to watches to snow globes. (It even posted a fun video showing what it was like to shoot the more than 500 featured gifts.)

L2, which benchmarks brands’ digital competence, points out that by now, department store love for Instagram is almost universal: Some 90% of store brands are using the platform, with followers increasing at a rate of about 160%, much more than the 35% average growth on Facebook. But not all are linking right to a shopping site, it says, as Bloomie’s has. (Bloomingdale’s shows its love for social in other ways, too: Last month, it created some buzz when it introduced an $825 hashtag ring.)

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Bloomie’s didn’t respond to Marketing Daily, but Jonathan Paul, Bloomingdale's OVP of social media, tells Women’s Wear Daily the effort — a way to make Instagram a more shoppable experience — is intended as a surprise for the store’s Instagram followers.

"Getting our encyclopedic assortment displayed visually in a visceral way was what we're going for, even if it's sort of overwhelming and product overload,” he tells WWD. “The idea was to show the breadth of the Bloomingdale's assortment." 

Bloomie’s isn’t the only member of the Macy’s family revealing new digital ideas for the holidays: Macy’s is exclusively selling what it claims is the world's first GPS Technology Wallet. Using an app, the Royce Leather Freedom Wallet, crafted from Italian Saffiano leather, protects owners from identity theft. It contains RFID blocking technology, as well as GPS technology to help track it down if it’s stolen.

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