Bid to monetise UK’s online youth with new Virtual Piggy partnership

Virtual Piggy announced yesterday that they will be providing their services to Digital Stores, the UK e-commerce site for artists and labels, in a bid to monetise the online youth market.

Based in Los Angeles and launched in 2008, Virtual Piggy is the first and only e-commerce business that allows children to manage their finance within a parent-controlled environment.

Digital Stores provides e-commerce services for leading music companies EMI and Universal Music Group. The business currently operates 60 direct to consumer online stores for clients, including those for bands and artists such as One Direction, Kylie Minogue and Emeli Sandé. The collaboration will offer Virtual Piggy members exclusive items, such as mobile phone skins.

Joe Peden, the General Manager of Virtual Piggy, said that Digital Stores is a “perfect partner” for them as they expand outside of the USA and into Europe.

Russel Coultart, the Chief Executive of Digital Stores, joined Peden’s optimism when stating the importance of including youth customers in e-commerce, remarking that “Virtual Piggy offers us a complete solution to youth monetisation, and we are very excited to integrate their technology.”

Virtual Piggy is available as a smartphone app as well as an online service.