Former Coronation Street actress Arianna Ajtar has announced a collaboration between her fashion brand and WeShop, “the world’s first shoppable social network” which rewards customer purchases with shares in the company.
Ajtar’s brand, Mars The Label, is best known for the Fishtail swimsuit, which was made famous by Love Island star Mary Bedford on her debut in the show.
On July 27 a celebrity-tinged launch party will be held at Manchester’s Rosso Restaurant – partly owned by former Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand, to mark Mars The Label joining WeShop.
Ajtar said: “I want all my friends, clients, colleagues and followers to become shareholders in WeShop by doing their shopping through the platform. From my first story on Instagram the response has been phenomenal and that’s before I start posting exclusive content on the platform and formally launch my profile page. Mars continues to grow quicker than I ever imagined. The collab with WeShop represents the start of a new chapter where I can give my customers even more than the actual products but also shares in what could be the next Instagram.”
WeShop chair Richard Griffiths added: “Mars the Label has onboarded to WeShop and Arianna will be revealing designs exclusive to WeShop as well as posting exclusive content. In addition to Mars the Label we are delighted to have Arianna as one of our founder influencers and thousands of her followers have already joined the WeShop community.”
WeShop’s disruptive model allows people to shop for everyday goods as well as luxury items whilst simultaneously owning a stake in a major new company. It aims to take on the US-based tech giants, one purchase at a time, by sharing the wealth built up in the company with shoppers through the issue of tradeable shares in return for simply buying goods that they would otherwise have bought from online retailers they already purchase from.
WeShop has pledged to ultimately hand over 90 per cent of the company to its users. Initially, for every purchase, 20 per cent of the price is returned in WeShop shares. This means that if you were thinking of buying a pair of £100 trainers from Amazon you can buy the same £100 trainers through WeShop from one of the hundreds of established retailers on the platform, except you will be rewarded with £20 worth of shares in the company.
WeShop offers some of the biggest retailers and brands on its app, including ASOS, Etsy, The Body Shop, Holland & Barrett, B&Q, PC World, Nike and New Balance. There are also a number of independent brands coming on board on a weekly basis such as Lulu Kachoo and Bow&Bo.
