I use Fab as a precedent for many conversations on a daily basis. It is one of my favorite companies for its founders, its model, its innovation and most of all because of its transparency. I am regularly called ‘J-Fab’ at Acumen Brands, and that just speaks to the CrackerJack in me.

Jason Goldberg and Co are doing a number of great things. For one, they stay true to their mission statement and it bleeds from every pixel of their site and experience. Secondly, they have been, if not the first, certainly the best at Commerce and Content. Before you snicker, they have innovated what many are trying to still figure out and establish strategies for. Not only are they focusing on how Commerce and Content play with one another in order to facilitate consumer engagement and build Lifetime Value (LTV) they have flipped the entire table. Fab has made it a point to curate such high quality design that truly makes you smile in order for its Commerce to actually serve as its Content.

Each week day at 9:57am, I receive a beautiful email that serves as a design magazine. I expect it at the same time each day, and when it is late, I notice.

Let me get to my point; this beautiful commerce engine, disguised as a design magazine can become even better, enable me to purchase more, and to Fab’s mission, make me smile more. Here is one way how:

In the past 5 months, I have spent $318.40 on Fab.com. In those 5 months I have bought only 1 thing. Prints. It is the niche I have found that suits my needs, wants and curiosity the most. Don’t get me wrong: I enjoy receiving the daily digest of everything, BUT, Fab could make a lot more money off of me if they segmented me based on my visiting, browsing, and purchasing habits.

Let me break my purchasing habits down:

5 Months = $318.40
13 Prints = $24.49/Print
7 Orders = $45.48/Order
5 Months = $63.67/Month
5 M-F Emails/Week = 21.67 Emails/Month = $2.94/Daily Email
2.6 Orders/Month = 12% Conversion Rate

Each day, I open my email, smile and enjoy everything, but always click the prints to open in a new browser tab. From there, I decided to purchase, or talk my self out of purchasing a print.

I suggest that in email preferences, Fab add two new email preferences: Niche (Much like their shops but drilled down further) and/or Purchase Habits

Niche would allow me to drill down to a product type that I am interested in receiving. Maybe it is only one type or could be multiple types. That way my discovery process doesn’t have to included feathery earrings and glow in the dark condoms if I dont want them or am forever uninterested. What it would in turn do is allow a consumer to not only have a more enjoyable experience, but also target themselves to certain niches allowing for more elaborate marketing strategies to be applied to said consumer. Also, the likelihood for a purchase to be made should increase dramatically.

Purchasing Habits would work the same way. Instead of me preselecting from a list of product types, I am opting in to the content in said email by making said purchases. In my case, I would receive Print and Notebook/Sketchbook/Moleskin emails (prior to this 5 month window I bought several notebooks). I would enjoy these emails and the likely hood of me making more frequent purchases would elevate, my lifetime value would go up and because I am so happy, my viral coefficient would sky rocket.

Of course, we are in an age of niche commerce/curated commerce. I am an architectural designer turn tech intrapreneur. I am both, fascinated and passionate about design. All aspects of it. Fab does a great job with the design demographic. My suggestions only come from care and constructive criticism. I am a believer in constant iteration along with constant attention to the details and while my topic is deep in the details, it is one I believe would effect many in a positive manner.

What companies do you think do a great job of Commerce and Content? How can ecommerce stakeholders become better at leveraging/integrating Commerce and Content, in one strategy/ecommerce solution?