Yahoo will acquire shopping service Polyvore for approximately $230 million according to various reports; but is that a good idea?
Polyvore is a (somewhat) popular and rather unique offering in the ecommerce space. For the unfamiliar, the platform enables users to assemble "themed" collections of fashion goods and actually purchase the items they group together. That may appeal directly to Yahoo's audience, but many (myself included) however are wondering if it is really that wise/prudent of a purchase for the struggling tech company to make.
The reason? While Polyvore is reportedly profitable, solutions of this nature are subject to the "whims and fancies" of often fickle consumers; e.g. when something new (and better) comes along, users will abandon Polyvore (or any similar service) and Yahoo will be out another $230 million. The issue is that there's really no unique technology associated with Polyvore that 1) can't be replicated, and 2) can't be improved upon. That could be a problem.
Of course, Yahoo also acquired Tumblr several years ago and that platform seems to be doing quite well. With last year's acquisitions of Flurry and BrightRoll, the Polyvore acquisition could actually make a lot of sense.
So what are Marissa Mayer and Yahoo up to? Sound off on the Polyvore acquisition by sharing a comment below!
