Google's boutiques.com: A fashion 'game-changer'?
With a website that custom-searches clothing that suits a woman's style, Google is getting into the rag trade. Will fashion ever be the same?
Earlier this week, Google went where it had never dared go before: Fashion. The search engine giant launched Boutiques.com, a new clothing and accessories site that uses a visual search engine to determine a user's unique style and scour the web for clothing that suits her. (At present, the site only carries women's clothing.) It also allows users to create their own "virtual boutiques" and to shop at online boutiques created by celebrities and famous designers. Is Boutiques.com a shopping breakthrough?
Yes, it's undoubtedly superior: "Boutiques.com's ultimate game-changer" is "how precisely it analyzes your preferences to give you what you requested," says Cathy Horyn in The New York Times. With seemingly limitless "capabilities and components", the site "significantly improves how fashion is presented and sold online" and it "may also change how people shop for clothes."
"Google fashion shopping site makes debut"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Especially for those on a budget: "This is a fashion-forward-budget-minded-woman's dream site," says Rosalyn Hoffman at The Huffington Post. The site accurately determined my personal style — "edgy-classic" — and when I searched for a "simple black dress with a round neck" it returned "more divine round-neck black dresses than we'd ever seen in one place." All that's missing: The ability to let users computer-generate silhouettes of their own bodies to virtually try on clothes.
"Stylish and on a budget? Meet your new best friend: Google Boutiques"
I'm not sold: Boutiques.com "still has a long way to go to become the go-to shopping portal the search engine giant envisioned at its launch," says Lydia Dishman at BNET. It can be difficult to find specific designers and the check-out part is a bit "wonky." Both literally and figuratively, the site "didn't close the sale for me."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - October 5, 2024
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - gathering funds, juggling tariffs, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 category 5 cartoons about hurricane Helene
Artists take on precarious conditions, planning ahead, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Wolfs: 'comedy thriller' stumbles despite George Clooney and Brad Pitt
While the crime caper might 'pleasingly pass a Saturday night' its star-studded duo cannot ultimately salvage it
By The Week UK Published