Playboy.com’s seven keys to a sexy e-commerce site
In a keynote for Streaming Media East at the Internet World trade show in New York last Thursday, Christie Hefner, chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, talked about how her organization has expanded its powerful brand from print to cable TV to the Internet, and shared some lessons that can benefit many businesses.
Here they are–her 7 keys to success.
Know your audience
Playboy appeals to young men with discretionary income willing to spend money on lifestyle products and services. That’s an attractive demographic for advertisers, and Playboy takes advantage of it by packaging Web ads with advertisements in print or on its cable TV channel.
Use the unique characteristics of the medium
Playboy’s first venture into streaming media came in the 1980s, when the company branched out into television. A key difference between TV and print, Hefner said, is that TV is a social medium. Playboy therefore designed its TV content to be watched by couples, rather than the young single male readership of the magazine.
Similarly, the company realized that the content for television, which has to grab its audience in a couple of seconds, could not be as broad as that of its magazine, and therefore concentrated solely on what Hefner daintily referred to as “sexy” material.
When Playboy moved online in 1994, long before most media outlets had a Web site, it realized that the Web was the antithesis of TV–you could put up a broad variety of content and let people choose what interested them most.
One of the unique characteristics of the Web is its interactivity. Playboy does a lot of polling on its Web site, Hefner said, along with coverage of events and real-time chats.
Use the Web to complement your other businesses
Print content is passive, while the online experience is more compelling, Hefner said. Going online let Playboy give customers a 24/7 experience, while leveraging its monthly magazine and weekly television shows.
Existing readers and viewers who visit Playboy.com find that most of the online content is not repurposed from the magazine or TV, but original. In fact, says Hefner, “Sometimes we even move content from online to TV or print.”
However, most of Playboy.com’s readers, Hefner said, are not readers of the magazine, hence they’re a new market for the organization.
Monetize your Web efforts in multiple ways
Playboy online has never had an ad-driven revenue model, though advertising is one of its revenue streams. Instead, it relies on subscriptions, shopping, and gambling.
Subscriptions to online content–which is mostly new and unique to the Web–net Playboy more than $60 a year from more than 100,000 people, Hefner said.
Last year, shopping was Playboy’s largest revenue stream online, Hefner said. The Playboy store has 2,500 items, most of which are proprietary high-margin items.
Online gaming is an evolving global business with no global brand name yet. Playboy plans to use its brand and reputation to rake in some of that money from individuals wagering on sports, casino games, and pari-mutuel racing.
Playboy.com is not in the black yet, but Hefner says it plans to achieve profitability by next year.
Develop an international presence
Having a presence in several different nations can help insulate your business against downturns in any one region. Playboy’s first full-fledged international Web site was Playboy Germany, which includes a full range of content produced by and for Germans. Earlier this month, Hefner said, it soft-launched Playboy Korea.
Cover your assets
Because so much of what Playboy can sell is photos, which are easily pirated, it is particularly vulnerable to intellectual property theft. Hefner says Playboy is willing to sue even the casual thief to aggressively deter piracy, and likened the effort to that of the neighbor who buys an alarm system to make his house less appealing to thieves. She said Playboy’s centralized digital asset management strategy is still evolving.
She also addressed the issue of site security, in light of a recent well-publicized break-in, during which customers’ credit card numbers were stolen. To its credit, Playboy disclosed the break-in and notified its customers, and is now working with security firm @stake and the FBI to pursue the hackers responsible. “We didn’t see much [negative] fallout [from the break-in],” she said.
Embrace change
In 18 months, Hefner said, online commerce and the Web will be different from what they are today. Be prepared to change with the times. For instance, Hefner says Playboy itself is now “playing around with” a dating service and exploring shared photography online.
When Playboy moved online, it had a huge advantage in its extremely well-known brand. It’s questionable whether it could have accomplished as much as it has without that running start. Hefner didn’t share any advice on building a brand. Nevertheless, she came across as credible, competent, and even classy–in short, a model CEO.
Articles | Administrator | 
Tuesday, December 18, 2001 12:00 pm
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