PICT

PICT operated as a technology firm specializing in content commerce through its mobile and web application. The company provided a platform for brands and publishers to create interactive, shoppable photos, thereby shortening the consumer's path from discovery to purchase.

The core of PICT's service was to transform static images into direct sales channels. It integrated with a brand's e-commerce system to access product catalogs and automatically tag photos with relevant product information and purchasing links. These enhanced images, or "PICTs," could then be distributed across various social media platforms. The business model centered on facilitating sales and tracking the resulting analytics, offering insights into content performance.

For brands, the service was a tool to monetize their visual content and analyze customer engagement through detailed metrics on views, clicks, and subsequent purchases. On the other side of the platform were publishers and influencers. They could leverage the "PICT Bank"—a curated collection of brand-created shoppable images—to share with their audiences. This created a new revenue stream for publishers, who would earn a commission on the sales they influenced, a model akin to affiliate marketing.

In January 2014, the company was acquired by the media and technology company POPSUGAR, integrating into its ShopStyle business. ShopStyle, a fashion discovery platform that drives significant sales to its retail partners, represented a strategic fit for PICT's technology. This acquisition aimed to enhance ShopStyle's capabilities in content commerce, a critical area for the future of e-commerce.

Keywords: shoppable photos, content commerce, visual commerce, e-commerce tool, affiliate marketing, publisher tool, brand marketing, social commerce, photo tagging, analytics platform, digital marketing, PICT, POPSUGAR, ShopStyle, customer engagement, online retail, commission-based sales, influencer marketing, mobile application, web application