The latest issue of an industry magazine featured Karmaloop.com as their main article. Now I also see that they're a Partner Store in the Market America directory!! Hooray! I have heard of them before probably from browsing MySpace.com but didn't visit their site until after this story. They've managed to learn how valuable their niche market is to the X & Y Generations by refining their CRM, Customer Relationship Management. They know that they're target audience is an online based community so they promote their stuff often because customers have asked to be notified...as frequent as twice a week!!

Looks like Karmaloop has a lot of the cool clothes and hot brands that I see at the rocker-type shops like Hot Topic or PacSun. Definitely has an urban feel to the site and being here in New York its also reflective of what I see the younger crowd wearing daily. I'm a Gen-Xer but at the beginning of the parade so I'm still into that style but I must choose wisely so as not to look like I'm trying to be a twenty-year old. When my hubby & I go out---who just called as I typed the words!!--then I'll wear a little more trendy stuff. I'm a mom of three and it shows in the belly & hips, hehehe.

I think Market America could learn from their techniques to keep customers up to date. They did start using the "ma news" link at the bottom of the homepage as a sort of "blog" for happenings and product announcements. I'd like to see an opt-in for weekly e-marketing to promote stores like this and new products to the Market America selection of goods and services. Let PC's choose the frequency of announcements like when you sign up for a Google Group and want no-email, daily digests, or weekly digests--in which those groups usually end up being overun by spammers or MLM's hawking garbage. Our PC's would know their info is secure and won't be shared or abused, if anything under-used.

Check it out Karmaloop in the partner directory under K
(sign up for their email list & instantly get a $10 Gift Code toward a purchase!--cool)