Yahoo buys shopping site Polyvore
Yahoo has agreed terms to acquire social shopping site Polyvore for an undisclosed fee in an attempt to get a foothold in mobile e-commerce and strengthen its native advertising strategy.
Polyvore, which will operate as a separate site and app, is a digital corkboard for picking and sharing clothing ensembles with every item available for purchase from a retailer by clicking on a link in the description.
The acquisition sees Yahoo enter into the mobile e-commerce market which has had significant investment from the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Google and Pinterest. Polyvore’s ads will blend in with the other content on its app continuing Yahoo’s strategy of native advertising.
Yahoo’s senior vice president for publisher products, Simon Khalaf, described Polyvore’s content as “actionable” and said that they were “very attracted to this model.”
Jess Lee, chief executive of Polyvore, said that the company decided to sell to Yahoo because it “was the best way to accelerate what we are trying to do.” Lee, who will remain at Polyvore, will again work with Yahoo’s chief executive, Marissa Mayer, who she worked under when the two were at Google. Lee pointed out that that Mayer “has been a supporter” as well as stating “I owe a lot of my career to her.”
The deal will see Yahoo using some of the fashion collections curated by Polyvore users in its digital fashion magazine while Polyvore will use Yahoo’s Gemini platform to sell ads. It will also strengthen Polyvore’s ability to compete with the likes of Pinterest.
Polyvore has raised around $22.1 million in venture capital from firms like Benchmark and Matrix Partners while rival Pinterest has raised more than $1 billion in private capital, and is valued at more than $11 billion.