Japanese ecommerce giant Rakuten.com has partnered with Tidal Labs to enhance the online shopping experience.

Rakuten.com and Tidal have created an immersive, shoppable editorial experience powered by the writing of influential bloggers. This removes the isolation of online shopping, allowing new products to be discovered by browsing through the travel stories, recipes, fashion and parenting tips of passionate individuals.

“These influential bloggers relate in a new way to the Rakuten.com Shopping community – their content creates a path to products that takes the concept of the look book to a new place,” said Bernard Luthi, CMO and COO of Rakuten.com Shopping.

Tidal’s technology allows Rakuten.com Shopping to tightly integrate products with articles on a relevant theme. Readers can browse and share their favorite articles, and click directly to purchase. Readers will be able to submit their own articles or photos to themed contests and earn a chance at winning featured products.

“Rakuten.com Shopping has continuously aimed to provide a fun, engaging shopping experience by connecting buyers and sellers in a dynamic marketplace and this new launch is part of its ongoing goal to be sure its customers are ‘buying from people, not the internet’,” it says.

As online retail has matured, it is no longer adequate to compete on price alone. As consumers have become savvier, they have become immune to generic product catalogs and increasingly open to the serendipity of discovering something new in new ways online.

“Shopping online can be efficient, but isn’t always fun. We wanted to recreate the feeling of going to a boutique marketplace with a well-traveled friend,” said Matt Myers, CEO and co-founder of Tidal.