Yesterday, Google’s new online shopping site, Boutiques.com, launched to a world of buzz. We did some perusing of our own, and gathered this list of the best and worst about the site’s beta version.
The Best
- Themed boutiques: From Mad Men to “Modern Military,” Boutiques.com has the perfect store for every trend.
- The algorithm: P.Diddy’s White Party is coming up, but you don’t own any white shoes. Boutiques.com can quickly and easily find the perfect shade of white (as opposed to eggshell or ivory) in a variety of styles along with inspiration on how to wear them and with what. It also organizes products by “free shipping,” “on sale,” and “luxury only.”
- Celebrities: Google knows the allure of celebrity style – consumers have been known to purchase a dress [and, consequently, cause the store to sell out of it within hours] if they’ve seen it worn by famous fashionistas like Kate Middleton, Michelle Obama or Sarah Jessica Parker.
- Personalization: Create your own boutique and tailor it to your style/preferences. You only wear black clothing and construction boots? There’s a boutique for that.
- The “hate” button: This feature allows users to really say what they feel about a product and was clearly inspired by Facebook and Tumblr. Members of the two social-networking sites have long griped about the lack of such a button – it seems only fair that if something can be “loved”, another can be “hated.”
The Worst
- Price Display: Though items can be refined by price, there is no way to organize results from low to high. Seeing a $40 pair of jeans directly next to another for $300 is just mean.
- Navigation: It can be extremely overwhelming to wade through all the products.
- Celebrities: Yes, this is also in our Best list, but we can’t really imagine Carey Mulligan sitting at her computer, clicking the “love” button on a picture of a Miu Miu handbag. Her page was most likely created by an assistant/friend/biggest fan.
- Favoritism: Has Google accepted sponsorship from major brands like Frye? That would be the only logical explanation as to why there are so many of the company’s footwear on the boots page.
- The “Designer Index”: While helpful, it looks eerily similar to that of Net-a-Porter. For a Google-backed website with access to every retail website on the Internet, you’d think that Boutiques.com would be a bit more innovative.
