Stylish brands move fashion online

Next month Conde Nast debuts its first stand-alone web product,
Stylefinder.com, a site where users can browse more than 5,000 items and
buy them through links to retailers' e-commerce sites.

It will face competition from MyStyleWindow.com, a fashion-focused
social network site with details of where to buy the latest celebrity
looks. Sky Media's online sales team has just won the rights to
represent ASOS.com, another site that offers advice on how to achieve
celebrity looks, while Hachette Filipacchi's Elle is also launching a
site with a shopping service.

But how much can the demanding needs of high-end fashion advertisers be
met through websites? Can online present clothes in all their glossy
splendour in the way that magazines do? And will e-commerce be limited
to clothing basics, rather than those that need to be tried on to see if
they fit and suit?

Hearst Digital managing director Nancy Cruickshank says that while
online will never be able to recreate the visual pleasure and brand
presence of a double-page spread Mario Testino photo shoot, a fashion
web- site is performing a different role.

Entertainment role

Cruickshank, who previously ran women's site Handbag.com, insists the
firm's research has shown that women are using the internet not just as
a functional tool, for things such as paying bills, but are also using
it for entertainment. "There will always be a difference," Cruickshank
says of the magazine/website dynamic, "but it is complementary rather
than competitive".

It is a sentiment echoed by those behind Stylefinder.com. Conde Nast
Interactive commercial director Serena Privett says: "We are not trying
to recreate our magazines online". Rather, the site is designed as a
"one-stop shop" and a "showcase" for thousands of products.

A report by consumer research company Mintel shows that sales of fashion
clothing and footwear have increased by 461% over the past five years,
moving through the £1bn mark in market size.

However, both Conde Nast's Privett and Hearst's Cruickshank are adamant
their sites are there to form fashion opinions and make revenue from the
ads - the publishers are not becoming retailers.

For high-street brands, the move to online seems common sense. Can the
same be said for the more expensive high-end brands?

Cruickshank insists the top Italian and French designers are shifting
budgets. Anna Townsend, digital director of M2M, the agency that booked
the first pre-roll on Vogue TV for Estee Lauder, cites her client
Pringle as an example of a luxury brand moving forward. Its marketing
director and Vogue.com editor Dolly Jones did a video piece discussing a
collection. Yet, Townsend does admit some high-end brands have been
"understandably cautious".

Jerome O'Regan, buying director at luxury brand media agency BLM Red,
believes the same care must go into online media brand selection as goes
into magazines when it comes to high-end fashion.

Retail angle

"We are quite selective. You have to be careful using online where there
is a retail angle. You wouldn't want your ad appearing on a site where
your client is not stocked," he adds.

While up-and-coming fashion sites, e-commerce or not, may offer users a
useful portal to fashion ideas and to fashion buys, brands such as Vogue
will show what is upcoming in the next fashion season. Other sites are
just catching onto the coat tails and showing what it is you can buy
now, O'Regan argues.

Handbag.com's Cruickshank cites the high-end e-commerce website
Net-a-porter as a place where expensive fashion brands are achieving
sales. "Customers frequently spend £5,000 to £10,000 with
the site," she says.

For high-street fashion brands, the burgeoning number of websites must
be a boost. But, given the right planning, it seems high-end fashion
could be about to follow suit

FASHION WEBSITES

Vogue.com

Conde Nast Interactive was one of the first to take fashion online. Last
year saw the launch of Vogue TV, with behind-the-scenes films and
interviews

GQ.com

Conde Nast's men's monthly also recently launched an internet TV
service, featuring highlights from menswear fashion shows in Milan and
Paris

Elleuk.com

Hachette Filipacchi is to launch an Elle-branded fashion website with
more than 10,000 fashion items on its first dedicated website, with
opportunities for home shopping. UK-based web browse and search company
Pixsta is to provide a shopping service on the site

MyStyleWindow.com

A new offering from internet entrepreneur Cas Ojo, with some big-name
brands such as Next and Marks & Spencer on board as advertisers. It will
have a fashion-focused social network and details of where to buy
celebrity fashions

ASOS.com

Online retailer that shows users how to copy celebrity fashions

Net-a-porter

A high fashion online boutique, founded in 2000, it sells brands such as
Chloe and Jimmy Choo, and uses former journalists from titles such as
Vogue, Tatler and Elle.