Lockerz
Encyclopedia
Lockerz.com is an international social commerce
Social commerce
Social commerce is a subset of electronic commerce that involves using social media, online media that supports social interaction and user contributions, to assist in the online buying and selling of products and services....

 website based out of Seattle, WA. The site claimed 19 million members as of July 2011 in 195 different countries.

Lockerz operates primarily on the basis of accumulating and spending Lockerz points, also called PTZ. Members acquire PTZ for logging in to the site, watching short videos, referring friends, answering daily questions and polls, or purchasing items from Lockerz, among other activities. PTZ can be used for discounts on clothing, electronics, fashion accessories and other products in the Lockerz SHOP.

The website also features an original Web series
Web series
A web series is a series of episodes released on the Internet or also by mobile or cellular phone, and part of the newly emerging medium called web television. A single instance of a web series program is called an episode .While the popularity of web series is continuing to rise, the concept...

 called The Homes, starring Chelsea Kane.

Lockerz is targeted at men and women ages 13-30, sometimes called Generation Z
Generation Z
Generation Z is a common name in the US and other Western nations for the group of people born from the early 1990s through to the present....

. About 20 members serve on the Lockerz advisory board, or "LAB," which tests features before they are released to the general public.

History

The company was founded in 2009 by now-CEO Kathy Savitt. Savitt is the former Executive Vice President, CMO of American Eagle Outfitters
American Eagle Outfitters
American Eagle Outfitters is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by Mark and Jerry Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc., a company which also owned and operated Silverman's Menswear...

 and was previously a senior executive at Amazon
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...

. Focusing on content geared for Generation Z, Lockerz grew from 50 college and high school students to 16 million in less than twelve months through word-of-mouth and social media.

In March 2010, Lockerz launched the beta version of Lockerz Play, the site’s entertainment channel, where users are able to watch videos and collect PTZ for watching them all the way through.

In July 2010, Lockerz announced the launch of Lockerz SHOP, the site’s shopping platform, where members can redeem PTZ for discounts off products from the site’s evergreen assortment of products. There are typically about 200 brands available in the shop at any given time, and they change every week, as quantities are limited. Brands include Nintendo, Razor, and Sony, as well as Splendid, Rock & Republic, 7 for all Mankind, Ella Moss and Dakine.

In late October 2010, Lockerz launched CONNECT, or fwb;) (Friends With Benefits) the company’s social networking platform. As part of this, Lockerz will introduce new ways of giving its members control over their privacy and information.
In November 2010, Lockerz launched 24/7, where users bid on a item and the highest bidder gets the prize. In January 2011, Lockerz announced they acquired Twitter photo sharing application, Plixi In July 2011, Lockerz announced they acquired social sharing platform AddToAny.

On August 1, 2011: Lockerz announced that the "Redemption" system would be discontinued. A new pilot coupons program was launched at the same time which enabled members to use their points (PTZ) for discounts in restaurants, stores, and entertainment. Complaints had been made regarding Lockerz' use of "waves" in redemptions, the way it decides who can claim the rewards for which they redeem their points. Many users had alleged that items available for redemptions were gone or “fresh out” within a matter of minutes, which implied that Lockerz had only a very limited supply of any redeemable items in redemptions at the best of times, despite having "over 18+ million users in 195 different countries."

On August 4th, 2011, Lockerz opened its site exploration to non-members. As part of this effort, the company re-designed their homepage and launched a new "Dealz" section which allows members to purchase special offers on restaurants, sporting events and fashion brands, among others. Redemptions will not take place anymore and Lockerz temporarily removed 24/7 auctions for upgrades and will re-launch them at a later date.

Lockerz Advisory Board

The Lockerz Advisory Board, LAB for short, was created by Lockerz a few months after the launch of the test splash site. The LAB's first term consisted of an exclusive group of less than 300 members from all around the world. They are, "a select group of Lockerz members from around the world chosen for their creativity, smarts, and dedication to the Lockerz community. This in–the–know team provides support to our membership and tests new site features before they are officially released." On December 4, 2010; the second term of LAB began. LAB 2.0 consisted of approximately 50 members which were broken up into 4 teams: Builders, Connectors, Influencers, and Curators. The third term of LAB began on July 3, 2011 with a group of 20 members.

Funding

Lockerz is funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), the Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

 venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...

firm, and online media conglomerate Liberty Media.. In August 2011, Lockerz also received funding from Live Nation

Profit/Income

Lockerz makes money two ways:
  • Commerce – by selling merchandise and experiences including clothing, travel, food and electronics
  • Advertising – advertising sold to a variety of brands

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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