By Paula Bernier Executive Editor, IP Communications Magazines
Dresses and purses and shoes, oh my!
Amazon is reportedly making a second pass at selling clothing and accessories. The effort will include high-end product, thus putting the worlds largest online retailer in competition with other top-drawer sites like Net-A-Porter and Yoox, as well as big-name online portal eBay.
New interest in online apparel sales is understandable, given the space increased 17 percent in 2009. Forrester (News - Alert) Research values the U.S. market for online clothing and accessories at around $27 billion.
Best known for its virtual bookstore, Amazon reportedly has hired new developers and graphic designers with high-end fashion backgrounds to put together features to draw in discriminating buyers.
The Amazon move follows on the heels eBays (News - Alert) efforts to attract fashionistas. As noted on TMCnet in April, eBay this spring launched microsite fashion.ebay.com and is partnering with retailers including Hugo Boss and Lord & Taylor as part of the effort. The company at the time said it was also working to create an online outlet mall. According to the piece, eBay sold $7.1 billion in clothing last year.
EBay has tapped into the allure of street-style blogs for its newest online e-commerce endeavor. EBay LookBook, a shop-able style gallery on which users upload snapshots of their outfits, bridges the gap (quite cleverly, I might add) between personal style and retail.
Here's how it works: Users upload photos of themselves and are encouraged to vote on favorite looks that have been submitted by others. And when you click on a look, up pops photos of EBay finds that are stylistically similar to pieces worn in the photo.
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I wonder if that name alone could spark a lawsuit though, like when ebay sued 'perfumebay'?
My inside sources in San Jose tell me that they have another brilliant, original concept in development. It's going to be called either "Tweeker" , "Twitching" or similar
Online shoppers in Bracknell are being warned of fake products being sold on the internet including designer shoes, hair straighteners and even teeth whitening kits.
Bracknell Forest Council used National e-Consumer Week at the end of September to warn bargain hunters not to fall prey to online crooks.
The council has revealed recent complaints from a number of internet shoppers in the borough who have been caught out buying items including fake Christian Louboutin shoes.
The fancy footwear was advertised on a UK website with a .co.uk address.
But the website was based in China and the customer spent £100 on the imitation shoes which came in the wrong size.
eBay is buying German fashion shopping club brands4friends for around $200 million, in a move it says is aimed at stengthening its fashion credentials in Europe....
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I'm going to laugh sooo hard when all this crappola comes crashing down.