Buying something from Target online? There's a $5 coupon available that consistently works for me, the top rated coupon here:
http://www.retailmenot.com/view/target.com
Another thought occurred to me today: if you're buying more than $110 worth of items, it makes sense to divide your order into orders of $55 (if possible, depending on the items you're ordering). You can apply the $5 savings to each order. You'll still get the free shipping, since the order is $50 or more, and instead of $5 off a single order, you'll get $10 off both orders... or more, depending on how many orders you make!
Online Shopping APIs
I had been brainstorming ideas for some cool shopping web applications and realized that the online shopping world is missing a key component to make this easy: APIs!
Just think how awesome it would be if Macy's, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Anthropologie all opened up their site data in a machine readable format. You could create some really useful applications, such as price comparisons across all stores, notifications of price changes, and complex searches.
I'm guessing this will never happen, but one can hope..
Jean Paul Gualtier exhibit at De Young
I had the amazing opportunity to check out the Jean Paul Gualtier exhibit at the De Young museum. Jean Paul Gualtier is known for introducing man-skirts, creating Madonna's iconic "cone bra", and designing the wardrobe for several movies, including The Fifth Element.
Here are some of the sights and sounds from the exhibit:
Here are some of the sights and sounds from the exhibit:
An important note to clothing stores
With websites like Polyvore and Pinterest steadily gaining popularity, it's time for clothing and fashion websites to rethink how they display items on each webpage. Both Polyvore and Pinterest offer an incredible opportunity for businesses: free advertising!
Here's my basic proposal for a product webpage:
Static Image
When using the browser buttons for both Polyvore and Pinterest, it's essential that a static image be on the page. For Polyvore, it's especially important that the image be clickable, so no fancy JavaScript should get in the way!
Here you can see Old Navy is doing it wrong. When I hover over the product image, I can't add it to Polyvore! Instead, it's still showing the detailed product view on the right. Frustrating.
NET-A-PORTER does it right. A nice green box shows around the image allowing me to save that image to Polyvore.
Transparent background
This is also very important for Polyvore - items look great with a transparent background. This allows Polyvore users to easily place items on top of each other.
Anthropologie is doing it wrong. Most of their product images are placed on a gray background, which looks horrible when placed over other items:
NET-A-PORTER is doing it right:
2-3 Views
Having 2-3 views of the product is also very helpful. The front view is best for Polyvore, the back view is optional and just a good idea in general for customers. Finally, the outfit view is perfect for Pinterest.
Here's a plain, flat clothing item pinned on Pinterest from Athleta. It's not super compelling.
Here's an example of a really great outfit view that really captures attention and has many more repins and likes (note, the image is originally from lookbook.nu, and is not a clothing website, but this is how clothing *should* be photographed for websites).
Interactive interface
Finally, to keep the interactive interface that most clothing websites already have, I suggest a link under the product image that allows the user to zoom in or out and view the details of the item.
Here's my basic proposal for a product webpage:
When using the browser buttons for both Polyvore and Pinterest, it's essential that a static image be on the page. For Polyvore, it's especially important that the image be clickable, so no fancy JavaScript should get in the way!
Here you can see Old Navy is doing it wrong. When I hover over the product image, I can't add it to Polyvore! Instead, it's still showing the detailed product view on the right. Frustrating.
NET-A-PORTER does it right. A nice green box shows around the image allowing me to save that image to Polyvore.
Transparent background
This is also very important for Polyvore - items look great with a transparent background. This allows Polyvore users to easily place items on top of each other.
Anthropologie is doing it wrong. Most of their product images are placed on a gray background, which looks horrible when placed over other items:
NET-A-PORTER is doing it right:
2-3 Views
Having 2-3 views of the product is also very helpful. The front view is best for Polyvore, the back view is optional and just a good idea in general for customers. Finally, the outfit view is perfect for Pinterest.
Here's a plain, flat clothing item pinned on Pinterest from Athleta. It's not super compelling.
Here's an example of a really great outfit view that really captures attention and has many more repins and likes (note, the image is originally from lookbook.nu, and is not a clothing website, but this is how clothing *should* be photographed for websites).
Interactive interface
Finally, to keep the interactive interface that most clothing websites already have, I suggest a link under the product image that allows the user to zoom in or out and view the details of the item.
Anthropologie's April '12 Catalog Available Now!
Anthropologie's new April '12 Catalogue is available online now! They're featuring many diverse prints, including this beautiful digital image dress priced at $158:
Digital image fashion is cutting edge and has not caught on in the more affordable sphere of clothing outlets. $158 is probably the best deal you can get at this time!
Digital image fashion is cutting edge and has not caught on in the more affordable sphere of clothing outlets. $158 is probably the best deal you can get at this time!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)