Design that Caters to a Niche User: Why Shopbop.com Gets it Right

So, what made Shopbop stand out from competitors? To me it's that the strength of their online brand is built on consistent, straightforward presentation of the merch, with emphasis on what the shoppers actually value. The shopping experience is transparent and intuitive. Shopbop builds its brand in the course of showing you the goods; it doesn't show you the goods in the course of trying to brand itself. For example, Shopbop flaunts styling and attitude on the "trend" photos they feature in their "lookbook," accessible via tile-links along the outer edges of the site, but for the sales presentation, which gets premium top and left-column navigation placement, their images are clean and simple. All the merchandise is photographed against a flat light-gray background on a stable of regular models that become familiar faces and bodies to return visitors. The images are lit, posed, and styled to convey a bit of the "mood" of the garment but mainly to illustrate what the garment actually is.

Compared to even a high-end proven retail name like Bergdorf Goodman, the Shopbop presentation wins on ease-of-use because Shopbop isn't in love with its on-ground brand--it doesn't try to create a glamorous dressing-room experience or feel the need to pay homage to its own legend; it devotes maximum space to showing the clothing in a quickly digestible format. Not a long scrolling page full of images, just two "racks" of closely spaced thumbnails per page. As you scan thumbnail views, you immediately see the most crucial information: what does this look like, who designed it, and does it come in other colors. Mouseover a thumbnail and you get a detailed view, with price, in the right-column. Click and you get to see a front view, a back view, and a close-up detail view of each piece, as well as thumbnails in other colors. In the commentary describing each product, you get important details like fabric content and measurements, but in a well-established voice of a persuasive and highly savvy fashion insider, that fun friend who will tell you honestly what to buy.

Shopbop also knows the word that makes any fashion addict's eyes light up: new. Visitors get a new fix every time they come to the site. Yes, you can shop by brand or by category, or by trend, but Shopbop makes it easier than other sites to look at new goodies by placing a "what's new" tab first on the top navigation bar and updating it daily without fail. Just as easy to shop is the Sale area--you can shop it by percent of discount and/or by brand. Even an on-ground store doesn't make it as easy to isolate and access what you want.

Since the sale to Amazon, Shopbop has been able to devote more budget to producing high-end fashion shoots for their "lookbooks" and trend-forecasting pages, which fit seamlessly into the destination Shopbop has become. As further testament to Shopbop's success, Amazon diverged from its usual strategy of partnering with retailers, and instead has left Shopbop completely alone to benefit from Amazon's resources but maintain its separate image. Notably absent from Shopbop is Amazon's "you might also enjoy" approach to selling by keeping track of customers' preferences and demographic purchasing habits. A wise move, I think, and especially appropriate for a fashion site. Everyone knows that fashion consumers devour trends but they still want to feel their style is individual. They don't like to be told what others in their "demographic" have bought, or even what they themselves have bought in the past. Heaven forbid you logged onto a fashion retail site and were told "last time you bought that brand in a size 6!"