Digital publishing and ecommerce startup Zmags raises $6m from North Atlantic Capital

Boston-based digital publishing and ecommerce startup Zmags has announced the completion of a $6 million investment led by North Atlantic Capital. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, the new funding is being used directly towards Zmags’ growth in the area of tablet-based commerce.

Growing rapidly as of late, Zmags is able to call the likes of Harper’s BAZAAR, Kenneth Cole, Express, The Container Store, Serena & Lily and PartyLite as clients. Zmags is no stranger to mobile-based shopping — as you can see in this Musician’s Friend catalog, you can actually listen to the guitars you’re shopping for. This is where print catalogs start to feel as outdated as a phonebook.

Even with these developments, however, there’s still plenty of ways Zmags can expand the level of interactivity it offers (for example, what if you could strum the guitar by dragging your finger across it?).

From Zmags President Scott Bleczinski:

The massive adoption of tablets has amplified demand for our offering, as consumers increasingly engage with their favorite retailers and brands on this personal device…This investment is validation of the huge market opportunity for a unique platform like ours.

As explained in the video below, Zmags is working to capture the feeling of shopping at a physical store. While the skeuomorphic method of recreating traits like page-turning is one example of how Zmags is holding onto the traditional catalog form that’s existed since print, hopefully the company has plans to take advantage of the tablet in new ways as an emerging medium.

Regardless of how the company expands its offerings in the future, Zmags is claiming that it is able to nearly double sales for its clients. In the end, that’s all that will really matter to retailers.

For more on Zmags, visit the link below:

➤ Zmags