News

Rebekah Horne emerges as founding CEO of social e-commerce platform TopFloor

Rebekah Horne MySpace

Rebekah Horne

Rebekah Horne, the chief digital officer of dmg Radio Australia, has emerged as the founding CEO at Google-backed venture TopFloor, a social e-commerce platform that enables commerce across social networks for people with a large following.

Mumbrella reported in August that Horne had moved to the US to work on a start-up, but will continue to act as a strategic adviser to dmg Radio – and may return to Australia to continue in the role early next year.

A memo from TopFloor’s co-founders Mike Jones – with whom Horne worked when she was running MySpace’s international arm – and Brian Lee, reads:

To date, experiments typically haven’t fared well because most have been little more than traditional e-commerce tactics shoehorned into social platforms. Affiliate links and Web stores built in Facebook application tabs are just two examples. That’s about to change.

We believe we’ve created an effective way to drive sales by leveraging the native attributes of social networks as a core part of the shopping experience. This isn’t a one-size fits all approach, but takes each network’s strengths and utilizes them as part of the transaction.

TopFloor is a video-driven platform that retailers, brands and celebrities can utilize to sell directly to their social audiences. TopFloor leverages readily shared video content, rewards for shopping, and social network integration to make social shopping easy, enjoyable and effective. In early tests, we’ve seen TopFloor sales on Facebook convert at more than 10x email marketing. The potential is exciting.

TopFloor has been incubated by Science Media and backed by Polaris Ventures, Google Ventures, Crosslink Ventures and Rustic Canyon Partners.

Horne told Mumbrella: “In terms of Australian partners TopFloor can provide exposure and access to a large potential audience internationally. We are already in discussion with a couple of Australian brands about working with us. It’s a very exciting opportunity.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Get the latest media and marketing industry news (and views) direct to your inbox.

Sign up to the free Mumbrella newsletter now.

 

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.