As a marketing professional  working in the e-commerce industry and someone who’s passionate about fashion, I get giddy when these two worlds collide!  Like in the case of the new Miu Miu online store.

I took the liberty of being nosey and poked around a bit. Here are some of my overall thoughts on the new online shopping experience from Miu Miu.

• Very clean multi-country website
• Rich editorial/ descriptive content
• Separate Category “Fashion Show Selection” seems to be a curated list of “favorites” and “must-haves” – great idea!
• Good use of maximizing space on every page – From the introductory page all the way to  the checkout page
• Clear and zoomable product photos
• Clothes shown both ON and Off models – ie both as bare “product” type shots and as more “body” type shots
• Visibility of number of items in shopping bag, at all times via icon in top right hand corner
• Use of the standard Filter options like “Material” “Size” and “Color” – Except , no use of filter for “Price” (perhaps because when you buy Miu Miu your expected not to care about the price? after all it is a luxury brand.)
• Website only available in English and Italian - Despite the fact that you’ve already selected your country in advance. For example if you say you’re in France, French is not given as a language option.
• Lacking in Social shopping experience – no “share” or “like” buttons were to be found anywhere!

OVERALL -
A good straight to the point website that maintains the “luxury” of the Miu Miu brand that integrates “some” of the best online practices. But fails to take into consideration the global scope of the consumer market ( non English and Italian speaking consumers) as well as there was a major lacking in the integration of Social Media tools.
Could increase language choice. Every product could have a name ( all skirts are not made equal! Would be nice to see some imagination like they do for the lookbooks.)
Must add social media buttons.

ALSO – I actually tried to purchase two items and it wouldnt allow me ( as of Sat April 9th) , so they might want to look into that.

Hope that this was an insightful look at the new e-shop by Miu Miu from an insiders perspective. Let me know your thoughts.

xoxo

The Biggest Men’s Luxury Retail Site.

It was certainly worth the wait for this new Men’s online clothing site by Luxury powerhouse Net-a-porter. The look is sleek and elegant. They also have a feature on one of my favorite men right now, Perfumer Ben Gorham.

The new site is a powerful e-commerce site that’s offing more than clothes , they are selling style and a way of life. As is evident from tier Style Council section and The Journal which resembles a blog. Their 32 Essential Pieces are great for any guy that has ever wondered how to step up his esthetics (Just counted the hubby has 21/32 not bad – now I’m making a list for the next 11 christmas’…lol)

Also if you want to dress like Guerre from Swagger360 or the men you see so dapperly dressed in The Sartorialist, then you have to check out Mr.Porter.com

Have you heard of svpply.com?

The new website that allows you to find the products you love, from the people and stores you find interesting.

Sounds familiar?

Yea, its kind of i like boutiques.com but cleaner. Or should we say minimalist.

We’ll try to keep from over-analyzing but whereas Boutiques.com has a more sophisticated interface and really does a better job with the  initial “style test” I couldn’t seem to finish svpply.com “taste test” as it bugged out.

We gave up …

It also seems to have a whole lot of t-shirts and sneakers – seems more masculine and way more casual than the diversity of products that you can find on boutiques.com.

Maybe it just doesn’t have as many users (yet) as boutiques.com to make its interface as “sticky”, for now we’ll keep an eye on it.

We love the idea but we got frustrated and bored after 10 minutes on the site. It just seems like a tightly curated site that caters to the casual-street-hipster. Where are the products to droll/dream over, save money for and put on your Christmas wish-list.

I’m sure big improvements are in store as they’ve secured a VC backing from Spark Capital, same guys behind twitter and tumblr.

Try it let us know what you think.

We’re in high season – fashion weeks are taking place around us left right and center:- New York, London, Milan and Paris starts today.

All this buzz of whats hot, whats not, who’s in and who’s not can take a toll on a normal girl.

Best advice: Keep Calm and Carry On.  You dont have to be in the front rows to get first dibs on the runway looks.

Here’s our round up of the best online retailers that will wow you with their off the catwalk selection.

Shopbop -

A brickhouse of ready to wear and some luxury brands – the Lookbooks are MAJOR.

THE PLUS SIDE:

Always has the  most interesting and inspiring newsletters for the fashion hungry – I get it everyday, even on sundays, and I can seriosuly tell you guys that if I could set my iphone to a speacial alram when its an email from Shopbop – I would do it – thats just how excited I get.  They have the Alexander Wang Hobo and the Alexander Wang Suede Coco!

Net-A-Porter -

As you all know is now synonymous with luxury and fashion designers. If there is one e-commerce site that you can trust with your most precious purchases its them, and if you’re yet to order you be so surprised by thier over the top fancy pacakging. You know its like the cherry on the top.

THE PLUS SIDE:

They have an online magazine section to their website that is phenomenal - with spreads like “6 essential work pieces”. Functional and Fierce.

SSENSE -

Talk about Maison Martin Margiela, Viktor + Rolf , Preen …yup they’ve got it.

THE PLUS SIDE:

Their blog is like a fashion art gallery!

Joan Shepp -

Not many people might now about this Philly mainstay but the insiders do, and for a good reason: the physical store and the online store packs a big punch with big names like Ann Demeulemeester, Anne Valerie Hash, Antipast, Aris Geldis, Balenciaga, Christian Louboutin …

THE PLUS SIDE:

When they have a sale its a real freakin sale – yes even online!

SAKS FIFTH AVE -

Let’s not get all “modern” and forgot who was really giivng us the good before the young guns joined the game.

THE PLUS SIDE:

International shipping for  all you international shoppers.

Zara’s parent group Inditex will be taking it’s europen websites
towards new e-commerce levels with the announcement of the launch of a
e-shop for the UK, France, Italy and other european versions.

We’ll have to wait a while for the American site to start selling
clothes.

But judging from the instore collection thats a force to be reckoned
with in term of copying the styles of runway designers like Balmain
and Isabel Marant – at these prices even the frugalist of fashionistas
keep going back for more!