Fashion For Sale Online Boutique

Last year 16 million shoppers bought clothing online in Britain, a 50% rise on the year before, according to IMRG, the internet retail market analyst. Jane Carter, a busy professional based in the city often buys clothing online, she said: “Shopping online is so easy, my workload takes up the majority of my day so I don’t have time to browse around shops. I regularly visit net-a-porter, toastbypost, and have recently got into e-bay for unusual vintage pieces. Payment is straight-forward and everything gets delivered to my door.”

And it’s not just busy professionals that are attracted to the ease of e-tail, sites such as www.oki-ni.com offer the very latest limited edition pieces for the style savvy, while www.laden.co.uk showcases designs from young, up and coming talent. IMRG cited that e-tail is now attracting a very broad range of customers from online bargain hunters to high-end luxury goods addicts. High profile labels are now reacting to the demand; the success of www.net-a-porter.com, www.brownsfashion.com and www.agentprovocateur.com has prompted them to create e-shopping areas within their own websites. Gucci recently introduced its very own online shop, selling – handbags, luggage, shoes, wallets and gifts.

Web confidence has grown significantly and for the first time figures show that internet sales have overtaken the mail-order market. Experts have also stated that not only are we using the web far more but we are also spending more time doing it. Thanks to the world-wide-web we can now check out the very latest in design wherever takes our fancy.

The UK’s Top Ten Clothing & Accessory Sites:

1 www.next.co.uk
2 www.redoute.co.uk
3 www.figleaves.com
4 www.argosadditions.co.uk
5 www.kaysnet.com
6 www.asos.com
7 www.topshop.co.uk
8 www.emporiolingerie.com
9 www.mandmsports.com
10 www.riverisland.com

Last week the web was put under the spotlight once again with the 8th International Webby Awards. Often dubbed ‘the online Oscars,’ websites were judged on six criteria: content, structure and navigation, visual design, functionality, interactivity, and overall experience. This year the fashion award went to French boutique Colette www.colette.fr, while www.style.com proved to be a hit with Joe Public as it picked up the People’s Voice Award. Other nominees in the fashion category included last year’s winners – www.showstudio.com, designer website www.isseymiyake.com and e-zine www.bigmagazine.com/home.htm. The awards were presented by an organized Academy that includes over 480 international members such as; musician – David Bowie, Internet co-creator – Vint Cerf and ‘Simpson’s’ – creator Matt Groening.

While the Webby’s is all about the crème de la crème of web design, most of us visit websites time and time again due to their content, more than anything else. Top online stores such as www.next.co.uk and www.redoute.co.uk offer clear product images on sites that are easy to navigate. This is where Fashion Capital comes in with a great new online boutique project. For just £100- per year (+VAT), brand new labels and designers will have the facility to sell up to 32 pieces from their collections, along with an introductory profile and web link. There are no further commission charges and all online purchases will be made via PayPal. To find out more about this unique offer there will be a launch and seminar on Tuesday 25th May, where there will be step-by-step demonstrations and experts on hand to answer any questions. The seminar will be split into two sessions, the first running from 10-12 and the second from 1-3pm. If you are interested in attending, then please contact Amy Roberts on 020 7434 2329 and mention which session suits you.

The launch/seminar will be held at the London Apparel Resource Centre at the Florentia Clothing Village, Vale Road, London, N4 1TD. Please see this link for a map to the venue: http://www.londonapparel.com/M_Map.html

Accounts can be set up on the day, all you need to bring along is – clear product images on disk, and your credit card details to set up the PayPal account. Fashion Capital now receives over 61,000 hits per week and the boutique will not only offer your products online, it will also introduce your company and designs to an entire global audience.

Jo Iles