Chiara Ferragni of The Blonde Salad is one of the world’s most famous influencers, with 6.5 million Instagram fans and an average of 500,000 site visitors per month. The blog has gone from strength to strength since its 2009 birth, morphing from a style blog into a multi-tiered company for the budding entrepreneur. The site is now undergoing a major revamp that will see it become a multi-platform content space, complete with an ecommerce section and editorial content created by a hub of influencers. Explains Ferragni of The Blonde Salad’s growth to BOF: “When I started back then, I just wanted a personal space. But for the last three years, we haven’t been a blog. We’ve been a website.”
The Blonde Salad will launch an ecommerce section later today, with co-branded products created in partnership with major designers Giuseppe Zanotti and Delfina Delettrez among others. “What you buy on The Blonde Salad is a treat for people who love the website,” says Ferragni. “We wanted to do something very special and specific.”
There will also be a selection of vintage pieces available, scoured by Ferragni, as well as her popular shoe collection which is believed to generate $US15 million per year in revenue, and a burgeoning brand of quirky merchandise that includes backpacks and iPhone cases. With worldwide shipping, the ecommerce section will be available in English and Italian only, but other languages are promised for 2017.
Editorial will also play a part in the relaunch. It’s believed Ferragni currently generates $US2 million in revenue in content creation for others, ranging from marketing, to native advertising and banners. Now this outpost will integrate content sourced from editors and writers hired by Ferragni with the creation of an influencer network dubbed the ‘TBS Crew’ that will contribute regularly. The TBS Crew are a diverse group of 20 micro-influencers with growing profiles in a myriad of different niche markets (including travel, sport, and beauty) that will ultimately help Ferragni extend her reach into different audiences.
