Want a more efficient shopping experience online? Today might just be your lucky day. On Wednesday, Google debuted Boutiques.com, an assortment of virtual boutiques curated by bloggers, celebrities, designers, trendsetters and everyday people. The latest e-commerce site–which uses visual technology and operates on algorithms that analyzes your fashion sense, pairing you up with items that would look good together based on colors, patterns and silhouettes–already has the fashion scene buzzing just 24-hours after its debut.
Talk about perfect timing. Internet sales of apparel and accessories this year will account for $25 billion, 14 %, of the $173 billion that Americans will spend online, according to Forrester Research. Boutiques.com’s launch comes at a time when fashion, particularity luxe brands, are receiving a tech makeover. (The new fashion site generates revenue on a cost-per-click basis in which retailers will pay Google by the number of clicks a user makes into products on their sites.)
“Online fashion shopping has to be universal and curatorial at the same time,†says Project Management Director Munjahl Shah, who is also co-founder of Like.com, which was acquired by Google last summer for a reported $100 million. Like.com is known for creating several fashion e-commerce sites, including Covet.com and Couturious.com.
Boutiques.com serves as a win to many who want a one-stop shop when it comes to purchasing clothes and accessories. It’s simple: Users can follow the boutique of others–celebrities like Eve and Vivica A. Fox are already on the site and so are designers such as Rachel Roy and Oscar de la Renta–or create their own and generate a following.
For now Boutiques.com is only available in the USA and manages women’s clothing; however, there are plans to open the site up to men’s clothing.
And in case you’re wondering: Yes, there is an app for that. You can access the fashion resource on your iPad for free.
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