ISHOPSTYLE.CO.UK CHALLENGES RECESSION WITH DISCOUNT DESIGNER PRICES.
June 22, 2009, iShopStyle.co.uk has become an overnight internet phenomenon, rapidly growing from an unknown site, to make it in the nation’s top 50,000 most visited websites* in a matter of months. The site which was started by 18 year old sixth form student, Jamie Dickinson, is women’s first choice online store for cut price fashion clothes and accessories.
The site, which receives over 1,000 visitors a day sells tops, dresses, underwear and more. The site’s forte is its range of dresses, which it is able to trade for a mere £9.95 each, to a maximum of £18.95; the same dresses which were originally for sale at up to £90 in high street stores. Savings have increased as visits to the site have allowed for bigger bargaining power, and have allowed for the introduction of the iShopStyle.co.uk summer sale, with all prices being guaranteed to be up to 80% off the original retail price in the high street stores. The online shop now boasts of selling fashion products previously seen in stores from Topshop through to Ralph Lauren.
Jamie Dickinson started the online store after seeing the high price women were paying for style and fashion, and comparing them to the cost of producing such items, he said “I felt the high street stores were cheating consumers with extortionate prices, and had to find a way of helping people out, especially with the media being riffled with recession problems and job cuts”. Jamie invested in over 1,000 products, at massive reductions and passed these savings on to consumers.
Up until now, the British consumer has had no real way of combating the high prices high street clothes are sold at. The introduction of Primark stores helped to see low prices in basic wear, but brand name fashion has always been highly priced, especially in stores such as House of Fraser. Inspiration for the online store was reached after a visit to a nearby T K Maxx store outlined the emphasis for low priced designer goods, but their haphazard approach to store layout has disappointed many customers who have found that it takes extensive periods of time to search through the masses of clothes available; iShopStyle.co.uk has eliminated this problem by allowing all products to only be available through their easy to use online navigation system.
Once the customer has discovered their desired clothing, the online stock management control, allows them to see whether their selected clothes are in stock and displays a variety of high fashion alternatives also available.
Dickinson said, "The site has revolutionized the consumer’s ability to challenge the price of high end fashion, and has raised the bar in such an ever growing industry", which seems to be important as retailers fiercely compete with each other for valuable consumer pounds.
* Source: Alexa Web Rankings (alexa.com)