Shopper Experience
24 February 2022
Purewow's new service offers a way to make a purchase via text
The women's digital lifestyle brand is providing curated items. Reply to buy.

The women's digital lifestyle brand is providing curated items. Reply to buy.
Shopping is coming to text messaging.
The latest example comes from women’s digital lifestyle brand Purewow, which is launching the service wowtext.
The platform offers users the opportunity to purchase curated home, beauty, wellness and family products by responding to a text message.
Here’s how it works: Readers of Purewow sign up and enter payment information. They’ll receive a weekly text message with editor-approved, which the service says is available at a discounted cost. If they opt to purchase one of the products, they can enter a quantity and make the purchase via text.
"At PureWow, we're dedicated to finding ways to make our readers' lives more meaningful, beautiful and manageable," said Kevin Stetter, Chief Operating Officer at Gallery Media Group, which owns Purewow. "Through wowtext, we're further demonstrating PureWow's passion and expertise in doing just that—and giving our readers access to amazing products at great prices just with the tap of a finger."
Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk's VaynerMedia acquired Purewow in 2017, and created Gallery as an umbrella for the company’s media ventures. That puts the latest launch in the same lineage as WineText, a texting service launched by Vaynerchuk in 2020 that offers a daily discount on wine.
SMS marketing has been embraced by a growing number of ecommerce practitioners over the last several years. Research from email marketing and SMS platform Omnisend, which is used by 70,000 brands, showed that brands sent 94% more SMS than the year prior, and orders for SMS marketing increased 106%.
It could prove an especially appealing option for brands seeking to communicate directly with audiences in the wake of last year’s privacy moves from Apple that limit the ability to collect third party data on customers.
While SMS has been among services offered by marketing automation software providers like Klaviyo for a few years, Purewow’s approach shows how SMS can be used beyond marketing, extending to a shopping experience via text. Fast Company reported last year that the text-to-buy space is poised to see a growing number of entrants, including TextRetailer, Text2Shop and Walmart Luminate. Marc Lore, the head of Walmart's ecommerce business, is also the cofounder of the soon--to-launch Wizard Commerce, which will offer users the opportunity to have a text conversation with a brand about a product.
Like the inbox before it, the text message is a surface where brands can meet their audience where they are. It's among the areas where conversational commerce is poised to rise.
On the Move has the latest hiring update from The Vitamin Shoppe and At Home.
Heidi O’Neill has a new role at Nike. (Courtesy photo)
This week, Unilever, Nike and BigCommerce are seeing major transitions in the executive ranks. Meanwhile, The Vitamin Shoppe named a permanent CEO, and At Home brought on a longtime Walmart executive as president.
Conny Braams. (Courtesy photo)
Consumer goods giant Unilever announced key changes in top leadership roles. These include:
Graeme Pitkethly will retire as chief financial officer, effective at the end of May 2024. The board is set to launch a formal search for his successor. Pitkethly has been with Unilever for 21 years.
Conny Braams, who serves as chief digital and commercial officer, will leave the company, effective August 2023. Braams previously held senior management roles including Executive Vice President (EVP) of Middle Europe; and EVP Foodsolutions Asia, Africa and Middle East.
Craig Williams. (Courtesy photo)
Nike, Inc. announced several key leadership changes focused on consumer-led growth and marketplace. They are as follows:
Heidi O’Neill who is currently president of consumer and marketplace, will become president of consumer, product and brand.
Craig Williams, who is currently president of the Jordan Brand, will become president of geographies and marketplace at Nike, Inc.
Matthew Friend, EVP and Chief Financial Officer at NIKE, Inc., will expand responsibilities to include procurement, global places and services and demand and supply management.
Jared Carver will serve as CEO of Converse. Over the last four years, he served as VP/GM of North America for Converse.
Scott Uzzell, the previous CEO of Converse, transitioned to a new role as VP/GM, North America for Nike, Inc.
“These shifts will allow us to streamline our focus across product, brand storytelling and marketplace, mining deep consumer insights to deliver breakthrough innovation and engagement, while building long-term growth and profitability,” said Nike CEO John Donahoe, in a statement.
Lee Wright. (Courtesy photo)
Lee A. Wright was named CEO of The Vitamin Shoppe on a permanent basis, after serving as interim CEO since January 2023. Wright previously served as Chief Commercial Officer of Franchise Group and in executive roles at Conn’s.
Muriel Gonzalez was promoted to president of the retailer, after serving as EVP and chief merchandising and marketing officer of The Vitamin Shoppe since August 2020.
BigCommerce announced the following leadership roles:
Daniel Lentz was promoted to chief financial officer of BigCommerce, effective July 1. He previously served as SVP of finance and investor relations. Lentz will succeed CFO Robert Alvarez, who is retiring after a 12-year stint as CFO.
Chuck Cassidy was promoted to general counsel, effective June 2. Cassidy previously served as VP and associate general counsel. He will succeed Jeff Mengoli, who is retiring.
Hubert Ban was named chief accounting officer. He will replace Vice President of Accounting and Principal Accounting Officer Thomas Aylor, who departed the ecommerce platform on May 19.
Jeff Evans. (Courtesy photo)
Jeff Evans was named president and chief merchandising officer of At Home, the home goods retailer.
Evans previously served as EVP of entertainment, toys and seasonal at Walmart, managing the largest general merchandise business for the retailer. He rose to the position after serving in executive roles at Walmart US and Sam’s Club.