A new way to shop for fashion online. The way we shop for fashion is different from how we buy cameras—especially online. With fashion, reviews and specs are less important; fashion shopping is about discovering something that fits your taste and feels right. The web works well for buying cameras and other hard goods but for soft goods, such as clothing and accessories, it’s not the same as shopping in a store. What’s more, the market for soft goods online is growing tremendously. A year and half ago, our team (which at the time was part of Like.com) started to wonder if we could create a better experience for people to shop online. Our team consists of PhDs in computer science with an emphasis on machine learning and computer vision, along with fashion designers and stylists—we jokingly called ourselves the computer nerds and fashion nerds (and a few of us were both).
So, we set out to create a new way to browse, discover and shop for soft goods online. In fashion, there are lots of choices. Boutiques.com. Google targets fashion market. Not content to revolutionise online search and email, Google is preparing to enter the fashion business on Wednesday with a website believed to be called Boutiques.com. The attraction is obvious: with conservatively estimated revenues of $500bn (£310bn) worldwide making it the fourth largest industry globally, and estimated to be worth £37bn to the UK economy alone, fashion represents a potential e-commerce honeypot to the search company. The fashion industry publication WWD reports Google is not itself planning to be a vendor; instead, its fashion-dedicated website will direct customers towards existing retailers such as Net-a-Porter and Asos, or designer's sites.
It has also asked mostly American designers such as Tory Burch, Oscar de la Renta and Marchesa to set up virtual shops within the site. In addition, Google is hiring Sarah Jessica Parker to establish a personalised shop and has invited other celebrities, including Tom Cruise's wife Katie Holmes, to do the same. Google Rocks Fashion, Personalized Shopping, And Like’s Visual Search With Boutiques.com. As an avid online shopper and someone who loves fashion, I have always found Google’s product search to lack any sort of aesthetic appeal. Pictures are small, filters are too basic for power shopping and for the fashion-focused crowd; the overall design is unappealing. While product search’s format may work for searches for electronics, it doesn’t work for people looking to buy clothes, handbags or shoes. Generally, Google has lacked a proper visual search option for soft goods shopping experience.
Which is why Google bought Like.com, a visual search engine and network of fashion-focused shopping sites. Today, Google is finally stepping foot into the world of fashion, e-commerce, visual search, personalized shopping and designer recommendations with the awaited launch of Boutiques.com. Simply put, Boutiques.com melds the best of what Like.com had to offer within a fast Google search engine.
Search on Boutiques.com is similar to search you’d find on Like.com, but on steroids. Google Launches Personalized Fashion Shop. Google launched a personalized online fashion shop Boutiques.com, letting users visually search and discover fashion goods as well as create their own fashion boutique. Currently limited to the U.S. and women's fashion only (with plans to expand in the future), Boutiques assists you in refreshing your wardrobe with a combination of curated fashion choices from fashion taste-makers and machine learning algorithms.
Start with a style, and you'll see 50 hand-curated items on top, with the rest of the inventory in that style chosen by Google's algorithms. Features include the ability to filter searches by genre, silhouette, pattern, color families and sizes, as well as visual search, which analyzes the photograph of a clothing item for its color, shape, and pattern and then returns visually similar items. Boutiques also gives you matching outfit ideas to the right of the search results, and you can complete looks using style rules, which suggest items that match. Google Fashion Shopping Site Makes Debut. Google The site allows shoppers to use the choices of prominent style makers as inspiration. Its developers expect most users to find their “style twin” and shop in that individual’s boutique. On Google’s new fashion Web site, visitors can browse boutiques created by designers, celebrities, bloggers and other users.
Above, Carey Mulligan’s boutique. But go a couple of blocks from the main building, and the mood and the desk décor are conspicuously more invested in style. In a deliberate collision between nerds and fashion mavens, Google has created a new e-commerce site that significantly improves how fashion is presented and sold online. Boutiques.com has so many capabilities and components that even Google engineers have a hard time qualifying it.
It is a place, then, to show off your fashion acumen, much as millions of Polyvore users already do in their picture collages. It is also a source of inspiration. Mr. Meanwhile, dedicated fashion sites like Shopstyle.com have gathered fans. What is the significance of Google building Boutiques.com a standalone online shopping brand? Boutiques.com reveals the fashion trends on everyone’s mind. Since we introduced Boutiques.com last November, we’ve been busy developing new features that we’re proud to unveil as New York Fashion Week hits the runways. More of the boutiques you loveWe’re welcoming hundreds of thousands of stunning new boutiques, including those from designers Helmut Lang, Michael Kors, Billy Reid and Thakoon.
Trend data to excite designers and fashion enthusiasts alikeOver the past few months, we’ve watched usage of Boutiques soar. Shoppers aren’t just creating their own customized boutiques, they’re enthusiastically taking our Stylyzer Quiz and sharing what they “love” and “hate” about products while browsing.
As a result, we’ve gained a unique, aggregate view into the latest fashion trends—a reflection of what shoppers think and feel about the colors, silhouettes, patterns and prices of individual products from across the web.