At BoF VOICES 2024, The Future of Commerce-Enabled Culture

At BoF VOICES 2024, the annual event which sees BoF’s community come together to discuss the industry’s future and critical innovation, several leading cultural players were invited to the stage to share their insights at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire. Celebrating its ninth edition, the three-day event hosted onstage talks and conversations with the likes of fashion designer Simon-Porte Jacquemus, creative director of Valentino, Alessandro Michele, writer and former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Tatler, Tina Brown and senior partner at McKinsey & Company, Sven Smit, alongside discussion-focused dinners and wellness activities.

On the final day of the event, in the Global Culture and Creativity segment that also featured talks from David Allemann, co-founder and co-chairman of On and Jens Grede, co-founder and CEO of Skims, Amazon Fashion Europe’s VP, Ruth Diaz, joined BoF’s head of content strategy, Robin Mellery-Pratt, for a discussion surrounding the future of commerce-enabled culture.

The launch of Amazon Music in 2007, followed by Prime Video in 2014, as well as the acquisition of gaming centre Twitch that same year — which engages 240 million gamers every month — signified the brand’s shift into cultural spaces outside of its typical e-commerce domain. The company more recently launched Amazon Live in 2019, which facilitates the streaming of live events.

This commerce-enabled culture provides fashion with potential cut-through in a saturated marketing space, with brands and companies increasingly inserting themselves in key cultural moments — such as LVMH’s sponsorship of the 2024 Olympics and recent partnership announcement with Formula 1, or Miu Miu, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton’s activations around Art Basel last month.

From film and TV to sports partnerships and cultural events, brands are showcasing their awareness of the need to be visible in spaces that matter to their customers. According to Emarketer, consumers spend an average of $290 on products seen on TV annually. That number is only likely to increase if it’s as simple for consumers to find and purchase the products they see on TV as it is to buy the garments they scroll past on their smartphone.

Below, BoF shares key insights from the onstage conversation, and how the ever-changing shifts in culture are affecting how we shop.

How commerce-connected culture unlocks customer centricity

“For me, commerce-enabled culture is the intersection between shopping, entertainment, culture and technology. As the head of Amazon Fashion in Europe, my vision is to offer every customer — of all ages — whatever they are looking for across all budgets, sizes and styles. But we view Amazon as being much more than a store. Rather, it’s all about the customer. Not only fulfilling their needs, but aligning with their passions and values, which is where we really begin to encompass entertainment.”

“We worked with Victoria’s Secret on their show. We created a front row view for our community — whether they want to see Kate or Lila Moss, Ashley Graham, or even be inspired by Tyla performing. With the opportunity to watch a fashion show up-close, you are able to see the details of the product, amplify the product and, in that moment, leverage Amazon’s fast delivery services to get the product quickly to your house. We did a similar thing with AllSaints to celebrate their 30th anniversary — we livestreamed the show from London Fashion Week and it enabled Amazon’s customers in the US who are fans of the brand to interact and shop the new collection in real time in a very seamless way.”

“These different offerings are truly about understanding the customer. We’re excited about the opportunity that this intersection with culture provides us. For example, we launched a series called, ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty.’ While the audience watched each episode, they were able to interact with the products inspired by the show, and order these products via Amazon.”

Use cultural spearheads and events to tap into fandoms

“We talk about gaming, for example, as being a critical channel for engaging Gen-Z audiences. Tapping into the hype around Formula 1, we created a brand collection with Pepe Jeans — they partnered with us through Amazon Twitch, getting this Gen-Z generation to listen and engage in a way that feels authentic, where gamers can wear products made through collaborations with key cultural entities in community-relevant forums.”

“We are talking a lot about sports and how it touches customers’ feelings and values and how it also unifies the community. Fashion brands are tapping into sports in many ways. Estée Lauder is running an inspiring campaign on Prime Video right now, where they are leveraging the increased interest and fandom of female football players to present their collection of high-performance make-up. And by being there at the right time with the target audience, they are able to reach new customers with commercial rewards.”

“We’re not in silos — we’re human beings. We’re interacting with content in many different ways. You make it natural, fun and engaging. It’s great for customers because they can tap into new brands they didn’t know about. But it’s also great for brands as you can tap into vast audiences you couldn’t reach in the same way before — and you tap into trends too.”

Lean into technological developments to anticipate cultural shifts

“We are so lucky to live in this once-in-a-lifetime moment that is the Gen AI revolution. We recently announced the launch of ‘Rufus’, a generative AI-powered shopping assistant, which is available to all customers in the UK, US and India, and we are rolling it out to customers in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Canada and Japan.”

“So now we’re able to search in a different way — with a super knowledgeable assistant who is learning very quickly, every day, about all the products on Amazon and beyond, and about the customer.”

“For instance, I went to Rufus and said, ‘I’m a speaker at VOICES 2024, a fashion industry event in Oxfordshire, so what should I wear?’. Following its consultation on styles and brands, Rufus recommended several appropriate options — the opportunities are really impressive.”

“For me the power and beauty is when there is an interconnection of all these things— it’s the intersection of technology, shopping, fashion and entertainment, and then ensuring that we put the customer at the very centre.”

This is a sponsored feature paid for by Amazon Fashion as part of a BoF partnership.