California Apparel News

A meeting between a former Fox Television executive and a jewelry designer was the impetus for Shopflick (www.shopflick.com), a new online marketplace based in Los Angeles.

David Grant, former president of Fox TV Studios, attended a dinner party and was seated next to an independent jewelry designer who had recently sold her designs on QVC. While her sales were strong, they were not enough to keep her on QVC. Grant realized that there could be an online marketplace for independent designers to use video to sell their products. Shopflick hit the Web with a private beta launch in February 2008.

“Video helps sellers create a connection with buyers and communicate their product,” said Maria Reiling, senior vice president of the marketplace. Reiling handles the seller development and merchandising for Shopflick.

Shopflick allows viewers to navigate through various product categories, and each item is accompanied by a video describing the product or the seller behind it.

Sellers can create their own video and upload it to Shopflick or employ Shopflick’s filmmakers to shoot and produce videos. The videos on Shopflick range from informational to irreverent, fictionalized stories about the product.

Shopflick’s filmmakers can create a video for $250 per shoot, and the creativity remains in the control of the seller, according to Reiling.

Sellers can use the video for marketing and use widgets to put video on their own site or blog and link back to Shopflick.

“Sellers can market and manage their own custom-branded stores easily,” Reiling said.

Buyers shop directly from designers selling their goods or from stores carrying different brands. Products on Shopflick include eco-friendly fashions from The Battalion, handbags from Rebecca Minkoff and items from established boutiques such as Intuition in Los Angeles. Shopflick’s main focus is on fashion and apparel but includes other products such as jewelry and home deacute;cor.

“Shopflick is able to scope out and attract the freshest talents with the most edge,” said Chrys Wong, co-designer for The Battalion. “The Battalion is all about connecting with our audience and peers. I think Shopflick captures our ideal completely. I am confident that this is the only way people would want to shop online in the near future.”

Erica Easley, a vintage-clothing dealer and buyer for Portland, Ore.–based Red Light Clothing Exchange, uses Shopflick to sell an assortment of vintage rock T-shirts. Easley finds that video captures the aesthetic of vintage clothing in ways photos can’t.

“The fun of vintage is in the details and the history,” Easley said. “Unlike still-photo listings, Shopflick videos let me interact with customers in much the same way I do when I’m in the Red Light—showing off the details, talking about the history and drawing connections between pop-culture reference points.”

Bestsellers on Shopflick include tops by Raquel Allegra, retail priced from $198 to $490; wallets made from recycled ties by Narwhal Co., retailing at $19.89; and necklaces by Miss Misa, retail priced from $35 to $105.