BI Social Commerce Summit: John Caplan of OpenSky

The first major interview of the day brought us John Caplan, Founder & CEO of Opensky and Lisa Gersh, Director, President & COO, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

 OpenSky is an online shopping platform like no other; linking its users’ passions to their celebrity inspired collections and unique tastes.

“Because we’re each unique and individual, uniformed stores can’t meet our needs. They don’t inspire and surprise us the way we should be. Shopping should be about discovery. Don’t compromise and settle for the status quo.” – John Caplan.

In the interview, Caplan said “We use social networks for different purposes”, and he’s found that engaging with fans personally, creates more customers, and using Facebook and Twitter is a great way of doing so.

 “OpenSky is about discovering new products. Trying to make a one-size-fits-all social network is complicated, because everyone has different experiences [on them]”.

 When it comes to technology, Caplan remarked how the tablet answered the question “when everything moves to mobile, how will TV follow suit?”

The rise of the tablet opened a new channel for Martha Stewart, to connect the TV show to social and online media. Stewart plans on opening her own social commerce site by the end of the year.

In the larger scheme of things, Caplan’s goal is for OpenSky “to be a trusted shopping environment” where people can explore their passions and buy products that seem to be tailor-made for them.

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