Cathy Horyn Already Has Problems With Boutiques.com
The Internet froth over Google‘s fashion site Boutiques.com may have forced the company to launch the site earlier than expected, and that might have caused Google’s engineers to overlook a few minor flaws. While most people have praised the site (we totally love it and already have an account there), it’s not without its problems.
Boutiques.com operates on algorithms trained to recognize things like the difference between gingham and windowpane, and even honed to be able to tell colors like tangerine and sunset apart. With image-matching technology that allows you to see similar styles made by a variety of brands, getting the designer look you want for less is as easy as doing a Google search. You can follow boutiques curated by celebrities, brands and bloggers — and you can even create your own boutique and let the system recommend buys based on your personal style.
Still, there are some products for which the “visually similar” items tool just doesn’t work, like an Emilio Pucci scarf we found this morning that was matched only with other Emilio Pucci scarves. Cathy Horyn, who got to preview the site along with avid online shoppers Simone Oliver and Jane Son, noticed that the wealth of information each search returns is a little overwhelming.
“After the meeting, both women identified an obvious shortcoming of Boutiques.com: as curated as it is, a lot still comes up in a search. Suggesting that too much information may be a turnoff to inexperienced Web shoppers, Ms. Son said, “It’s going to take some getting used to, that’s for sure.”
Nodding, Ms. Oliver said, “I feel it’s an amazing site but there are a few aspects that are not very intuitive. Some people might go back to the regular Google search and look for their boots.”
Horyn notes that you can, in fact, do just that from within Boutiques.com — and for some items you might just have to. Elle‘s fashion bloggers discovered this morning that because the site links out to stores like Selfridges and Browns, some prices that should be displayed in pounds are actually displayed in dollars. How crushing would it be to find out that you actually couldn’t afford something you fell in love with because it’s twice what you wanted to pay?
But for all the kinks Google still needs to work out of its system, we can’t say they haven’t created a new and improved way to shop online. Whether it will revolutionize the process of buying clothes from the comfort of your own desk depends on how fast the site can be improved.
Google says it plans to open the site up to men’s clothing soon, but for the time being, what do you think of Boutiques.com?
Related:
Google Fashion Shopping Site Makes Debut [NYTimes]
Google’s Boutiques.Com Is Live, And It’s Great, But It Forgot to Turn Pounds Into Dollars [Elle]
Will Google’s Fashion Site Make Finding Knockoffs Easier? [Styleite]
Is Google Launching A Fashion E-Commerce Site? [Styleite]
CONFIRMED: Google’s Fashion Venture To Launch This Week [Styleite]
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Ella Dyer
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