Unique among the companies I have covered to date, Fluid is a hybrid – an interactive agency with its own social commerce platform.
Fluid designs and builds digital shopping experiences for a broad array of customers. In addition to design and development services, the agency offers the Fluid Retail interactive merchandising platform.
As such, Fluid’s competitors not only include the usual suspects – Milyoni, Payvment and ShopIgniter – but other big brand-oriented digital agencies, as well, including the likes of AKQA, Razorfish and 8thBridge.
Fluid Clients
Fluid’s customers range from mass-market retailers to luxury goods manufacturers, and include leading brands such as: Sears, Benefit Cosmetics, Diapers.com, Nine West, Reebok, Sears, JELD-WEN Windows & Doors, Isaay.com, The North Face, and Vans.
Recently, Fluid teamed up with eBags.com to launch social shopping functionality for its newest website, Handbags.com. “Handbags.com is expected to be one of the most extensive implementations of social networking features available today on a single ecommerce website,” stated Stephanie Aldrete, Director of Marketing.
The platform enables Hangbag.com users to share lists via Facebook as a way to engage friends, keep track of conversations in separate comment threads about each product, and extend the conversation beyond comments — making it possible for friends and family to suggest alternate products and maintain separate comment threads, likes, and shares about these recommended products.
Fluid UVP
According to Aldrete, there are four trends impacting business today that Fluid seeks to address:
- The need to create immersive consumer web experiences that rapidly increase conversion rates. Fluid provides such engagement through the use of its product, Fluid Experience, that brings customers closer to a real-world shopping experience with rich visual merchandising. The product is proven to increase conversion rates from 15 to 40 percent.
- The need to integrate social elements to their sites to connect customers with their friends; shop and share selections with friends. Fluid maximizes social shopping experiences by bring together the social web with interactive merchandising with onsite co-shopping, share and like functionality with Fluid Socialize.
- The need to offer customers a personalized experience online. With Fluid Configure, customers can interact and customize products, therefore connecting with a brand in a new way. To compete, retailers need to deliver a personalized, customized product on a mass scale.
- The need to recognize the increasing relevance of mobile users by offering ways for consumers to shop via any device.
Fluid Products
Fluid Fan Shop – Fan Shop embeds branded shopping experiences directly into a client’s Facebook fan page, or any other site, such as a promotional micro-site.
Fluid Experience – This product provides dynamic imaging functionality for eCommerce sites designed to deliver rich interactive shopping experiences.
Fluid Socialize – Socialize maximizes social shopping experiences by bringing together the social web with interactive merchandising with onsite co- shopping, share, and like functionality.
Fluid Configure – Fluid Configure is a product customization component that allows brands to offer immersive product customization.
Benefit Cosmetics Case Study
Fluid partnered with Benefit to leverage a platform on Facebook that enables the retailer to offer exclusive promotions, such as sneak peeks, discount codes for new fans, feature top selling products, and advertise flash sales specifically for Facebook fans.
The platform, Fluid Fan Gate, was created in two days and put into action immediately by Benefit. The first campaign offered 20 percent off Benefit’s top sellers to their Facebook fans.
The goal of the promotion was to engage existing customers to get excited about a rare discount offer, to spread the word around social media channels and to drive traffic to their newly-launched ecommerce website.
Visitors to Benefit’s Facebook page had to “Like” the fan page to gain access to the discount code.
Benefit conducted a two-day promotion using the Fan Gate platform, which resulted in a net gain of 11,000 new Facebook fans, a four percent growth in 48 hours. Benefit also increased traffic to its website by 32 percent in the same time period. The promotion led to Benefit’s biggest two days of sales ever for their ecommerce website!
Platform Costs
Due to the custom nature of they types of services Fluid provides – We offer design and development agency services and the retail merchandising platform – there is no package pricing. Those interested in learning more are encouraged to contact the company.
Company Information
The San Francisco-based company – which has offices in Chicago and New York – has been self-funded for the past decade. Its management team is made up of executives with a wealth of agency and eCommerce experience and includes:
- Kent Deverell – Chief Executive Officer
- Andrew Sirotnik – Chief Experience Officer
- Tamir Scheinok – Chief Operating Officer
- Mark Belanger – Chief Technology Officer
- Andrew Guldman – VP, Product Engineering
- David Hogue – VP, Information Design & Usability
- Julie Yamato – VP, Project Management
- Isaac Newton – VP, Agency Sales
- Amy Lanigan – VP, Client Strategy
Contact Information
For information about Fluid’s products and services, you may call 877-343-3240 or contact the company by email at sales@fluid.com. You can also visit the website and follow Fluid on Twitter @Fluid or on Facebook.
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