Ready. Steady. Shop Styloko

Ladies, are you sick of stomping the streets trying to find that perfect LBD? Well no longer do you need to as the savviest of shoppers are now using Styloko – the country’s most innovative, personalised shopping site.

“…we already know what you like, we know what retailers you like…”

Working with over 1000 brands and retailers the site allows you to create your own online boutique with items you covet and not only that it alerts you when items go down in price and informs you when products are available in stores around you. Very clever we hear you cry but how does this magical site work?

Rachel Perera speaks to the founder of styloko.com, Ivailo Jordanov, and Editor-In-Chief Emily O’Brien about the revolutionary time and money saving functions on the site and what the emergence of this new technology means for the future of the UK high street.

Ivailo, tell me a bit about styloko.com and why you started the site?

“Basically I wanted to find a better way for people to shop. There is a lot of segmentation in the market at the moment and lots of places where you can buy but fashion is still not immediately googleable, for example you can’t google ‘I want to find red shoes to go with my new bag’, it is more of a serendipitous process which requires you to look around for items you like. I wanted to speed up the amount of time it takes people to do this by putting all of the products they want in one place.

“We wanted styloko.com to be a place where we already know what you like, we know what retailers you like and we present a much more personalised set of products to shop from compared to other more generic sites.”

So Ivailo, you are a tech entrepreneur but without getting to ‘techy’ how does the site work?

“It basically works on very clever algorithms. We work closely with our retail partners so that we have up to date information about all of the products they have in stock at any one time. We ask our users to give us basic details about themselves, and what brands they like and then the more they interact with the site the more it will tailor itself to the user. For example if you like Gucci, the next time you come to the site, it will show you more Gucci shoes and it will alert you when the pair of Gucci shoes in your wish list goes down in price. It basically links you with the products you love, quicker! You can also share all of your finds with friends and can follow other peoples boutiques for inspiration.”

So Emily, as a self confessed shoe obsessive and Editor of styloko.com tell me what you love about the site.

“The thing I love the most about styloko.com is how personalised you can make it. There are plenty of sites coming up more and more now that offer a personalised shopping service but the level of detail to which we go is one step higher than everyone else. I also love that www.styloko.com does not group my tastes by brand, for example I don’t have to follow everything Acne has if i’m not interested in everything Acne has. If i just love Acne boots or jackets I can just follow those categories.

“We really tailor what you want to see and what you want to shop and I love keeping track of everything in one place in my own boutique. In addition you can go to other sites and still keep track of items you want whether they are sold through the site or not. The sales alerts are also great, the minute something drops in price I will know about it!

“Also the presents from my boyfriend have drastically improved. If he needs to buy me something he now just goes straight to my boutique to see what I like.”

And what about the social aspects of the site?

“Our styloko.com community is great for discovering new products and also very inspirational as you can follow people’s boutiques whose style you admire. Women like to shop in different ways and so supporting inspiration and discovery for our users is key for us. For example, what if there is a great new brand or dress that I don’t know about yet? Well our www.styloko.com community probably will. We basically provide a community of like minded women whose style you can glean inspiration from.”

So there are the obvious time and cost saving functions that make using Styloko a real benefit to the users but what about benefits to the brands?

“The real coup to the brands is the tailored marketing we provide as you can’t get the same level anywhere else.

“Brands have a tricky job, they not only have to know who their customer is but they also need to know what products they are actually buying and where they are buying. For example Whistles know they have fans, but what segment of their fans are only interested in a certain category or product? On www.styloko.com they can target specific people with product they know they are going to like as we have all of this information at our fingertips which will heighten the decision to purchase. Through feeding back this information to the brands they can tailor offers and competitions or adapt their buying patterns if need be.

“Also we provide a platform which enables users to discover new brands through sharing the products they love which introduces them to other users who may not have heard of them.”

So Emily, what does this new way of online shopping mean for the future of the high street? Is it all over?

“I am a huge champion of online fashion shopping and I think it is the future but there will always be a need for bricks and mortar stores. I don’t think online fashion will ever eradicate the high street, things just need to change so that they work in tandem more effectively. Essentially there is nothing like going into a shop and trying something on, which is something we cannot recreate with online and so there will always be a demand for high street stores. What the high street needs to do though is look at their stores and see how they can change things so that they merge their online and offline presence.

“That is something we are trying to do with our new app as well. We are an online shopping platform but the GPS on our app will let you know when items are in stores around the corner so you can decide whether to go inshore or just purchase through the app. We are trying to recognise that there is an importance in both online and high street stores and that both play a huge part in the purchase decision and both are equally fundamental parts of the shopping journey.”

And finally what are the best bits about your job?

“I love the environment at work and there is a real can do attitude. We are building the future of online shopping and everyone involved genuinely believes that is the case. In addition, I am a shopaholic and I love that my day involves looking at all of the new product from the best brands in the world. My favourite brands to shop from at the moment are Christopher Kane, Whistles and Carven but I also love discovering new designers and watching our community grow everyday with people who like talking about their purchases and sharing them. I am also a sucker for shoes so being able to shamelessly add them to my boutique is great fun.”

So there you have it ladies, it would seem that the new era of online shopping is upon us and with sites like styloko.com jam-packed with time and money saving features how can you afford not to try it?

Look our for their upcoming competition where styloko.com have teamed up with Glassworks Studios to let a lucky reader win an outfit of their choice.

And in the meantime browse through the pictures below to see some of the items we are coveting for Spring/Summer 14.

To set up your own boutique visit www.styloko.com or if your require any further information please contact [email protected]