A whole new online Style Universe, online shopping platform JASU will be launching to the public late August, 2012. A one-stop Australian fashion e-commerce platform and lifestyle content channel, the site will showcase the best of Australian fashion.
During the website's initial beta stage, JASU has embraced innovative new digital methods for recruiting its customer base. This is the first time a brand new online store has been Klout gated for its launch in Australia, and JASU will be fast tracking memberships for its founding members by measuring their Klout scores. Klout is a San Francisco based company that provides social media analytics to measure a user's influence across his or her social network allowing only the socially visible and those who are trendsetters in their visual communities access to the platform.
Breaking into this new digital terrain calls for a new breed of ambassador, so for its launch phase JASU will be collaborating with a carefully curated array of fashion authorities, which they refer to as Stylemakers. Stylemakers are individuals whose styles are trend focused, and are passionate about both fashion and lifestyle. Comprised of a line up of Australia's most connected fashion bloggers including Nicole Warne (Gary Pepper), Mandy Shadforth (Oracle Fox), Sara Donaldson (Harper & Harley), Sarah Willcocks (StyleMelbourne), Charmaine James (heart + bleecker) and illustrator Kelly Thompson with more to be announced. JASU's Stylemakers were shot earlier this month in Broome by photographer Samantha Jarrett in a first-ever Australian campaign with an amalgamation of its best bloggers at the forefront. Shot in a varied selection of quintessentially Australian backdrops, each JASU Stylemaker was encouraged to promote the site via their own networks, updating their statuses and blogs with #JASU, and alluding to the site but not disclosing any further information. The JASU Stylemakers will generate website editorials that showcase their personal style and favourite items.
Revolutionising the meaning of shopping, JASU creates a new platform that puts partnerships first and foremost.
Already gaining the support of a line-up of leading Australian designers, the site will carry key pieces from myriad designers including, Dinosaur Designs, Dion Lee, Elke, Ellery, Gail Sorronda, Ginger & Smart, Gorman, Josh Goot, Megan Park, Rebecca Vallance, Romance Was Born, 2 by Lyn & Tony, with more soon to be announced.
Marking a departure from other online shopping platforms with its carefully curated editorials and trends, it is the close collaboration that JASU has with its designers and Stylemakers that will cement JASU's status as not only an online shopping platform, but also a fashion resource.
Brainchild of a collective of Melbourne-based creatives with Albert Yang (Founder/CEO), Brooke Davis (Content Manager) and Chris Edwards (Sales Manager) at the helm, JASU was conceived when its founders recognised a crucial glitch in the Australian online shopping matrix. Yang, Davis and Edwards desired to create a singular destination that was an amalgamation of their favourite fashion brands, while simultaneously representing the latest fashion looks.
Believing that the future of retail is trending towards direct selling with customers buying directly from the designers, the JASU founders assert that the strength of this sales method is that both brands and customers will benefit from the transaction. With online shopping by Australians at an all time high and a plethora of international online sellers entering into the Australian marketplace, JASU founder Yang believes that there is a need for more localised retail internet concepts with a clearer direction. While online stockists drive traffic and sell a brand's products, brands are missing out in their ability to learn from their customers and control their products, images and brand direction. In this mode of direct selling, brands become not only the product provider but also the service provider.
"We would like focus on fashion, and bring the best benefits of having both an official site and our online stockists together. We want create a place where brands can run their store in their own way with their own branding while we drive the traffic for them," says Yang.
"We would like to create a business that values partnership and the power of the collective. The site provides infrastructures, experiences and services to member brands so that they can focus on what they do the best - that is to create beautiful products and service their customers."
Instilling confidence in its shoppers, JASU brings together Australia's best brands with style advice from leading fashion luminaries. The easy-to-use site offers secure transactions and quality customer service that gives consumers the ultimate certainty that they have made the right purchase decision.
