Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Fashion & Shopping Widgets: Online Shopping Companions on the Web?

Shopping and fashion widgets are everywhere.. on blogs, on facebook, on your fave widget application... but which ones actually can help you while shop on the web? Which widgets can actually send you inspiration, suggest products based on your likes or browsing trends, let you search the entire web for the perfect red turtle neck? I decided to test out three widgets and one of them definitely surpassed my expectations. Please note that I am using Yahoo Widgets for this post, but you can easily add these widgets to your blog, myspace, or facebook by following additional instructions found on the corresponding site.

Widget 1: Top Shop Daily Fix
Top Shop Daily Fix is a cute little fashion widget, with 1,357 active users daily, and it gives you a daily pick fashion pick as it hits their popular site. No more searching for trends and multiple feeds to see what's hot now. Top Shop "does the thinking for you". I installed the widget on my desktop using Yahoo Widgets. The best part? If you see something you like... just click buy.


Widget 2: SHOP.COMpanion
SHOP.COMpanion is a cute widget that can also be downloaded to your desktop using Yahoo Widgets (you can also incorp it n2 Facebook and MySpace). The concept behind this widget is that from your desktop you can search for anything (dvds, books, clothes) and the SHOP.COMpanion will give a list of choices from all over the web. Choose the one you like and navigate to the website where you can purchase it instantly. I downloaded the app and searched for a black cocktail dress. I choose one from BlueFly and it took me directly there...see below)

1. search for black cocktail dress

2. choose favorite

3. navigate to website and purchase

Widget 3: StyleFeeder

I really can't call this a widget.. this is way more like a web application but I love it soooo much I had to feature it. Just wait and see how amazing this is! It's called "the personal shopping engine" and for good reason. All you have to do is choose some things visually that you like and style feeder will generate awesome picks based on your taste. But that's not all, download the attachment for your web browser, and you can add your own shopping picks (check the widget out on the left of this blog). But I can show you way more that I can tell you. Check it out:

Step 1: Based on the pics, choose some categories that interest you.

Step 2: Based on the categories used in step 1, choose some items that you like. After each pick the items change based on your preferences (so cool!)

Step 3: StyleFeeder generates some items it thinks you will like and suggest some other users you should check out who have your style. But the personalizing really starts here, choose a username and password and get ready to really use this app to the fullest.

Step 4: Once your account is created you can do four things, download your widget and display it on your blog or fave social network, check out some people (style twins) that like what you like, add items to your app from the StyleFeeder site through exploration and rating, or my personal fave, or get a personal shopper.

Step 5: I went directly to downloading my Personal Shopping and StyleFeeder added a cool side bar to Firefox and also a button to my toolbar to add items as I shopped. I went to Victoria Secret, because there is the cute little black dress that I really want, and added to my StyleFeeder by clicking on the button on my toolbar and then clicking on the picture of the dress.

Step 6: Now StyleFeeder lets me add some info about my picture....

Step 7: ... and viola, if you look at my widget on this blog (to the left) you can see that my dress is added! Go ahead and click on the picture. You can add your comments to my dress or see some similar items that StyleFeeder picked.

Out of all of the widgets I looked at I liked these three the best. StyleFeeder will definitely be one of my "can't live without" widgets. Are there any widgets out there that you guys use faithfully? Like This? Love This? Let me know!

Independent Fashion Bloggers/