FCUK's Youtique

Clothing retailer FCUK tapped 'Poke London' to create Youtique, a direct sales channel on Youtube featuring stylist Louise Roe. Roe doles out fashion tips in annotated videos that allow consumers to directly purchase the featured items through contextual links to the frenchconnection.com website, providing for a streamlined user experience.

http://www.youtube.com/user/frenchconnection

Awesome. Shopping just keeps getting more and more convenient.

Smiggle

Australian stationers 'Smiggle' has today run away with the prize of Australian Retailer of the year 2010 at the ARA Australian Retail Awards.

Smiggle was born in 2003 when its founder noticed a gap in the market for colourful, fun, fashion-forward stationery. The first store opened in South Yarra, Melbourne and it fast becoming the hottest retailer for bright pens, notebooks and gadgets.

Smiggle then joined Just Group's strong portfolio of brands in August 2007 and has not looked back since! In December 2008 Smiggle jumped the seas and opened its first international store in New Zealand. It's all part of the plan to be the world's most famous stationery brand.

Ben Sherman's 'Shop load of shirts'

To coincide with New York Fashion week, British retailer Ben Sherman converted their SOHO window into a huge PR stunt. Using the idea of 'a shop load of shirts' they decked out their windows both inside and out with the product that made them famous.

They then filmed people's reactions...

Try before you buy

'Tryvertising' - a new trend that lets consumers experience a product virtually before they buy it - has prompted an online watch retailer to develop an app that lets would-be customers see how a watch looks on their wrist before they commit to it.

Canadian Nuevo Watches offers a form of virtual tryvertising with its new app, reports global trend monitoring website Springwise.com.

Click here to find out more!
Compatible with the iPhone and the 4th generation iPod touch, the Nuevo app from Monokromik lets users try on and select watches in the Neuvo watch collection without physically touching them.

The free app is available for download from the iTunes store (search 'Monokromik'); it requires iOS 3.1.3 or later. Once it's downloaded, users can virtually try on any of Montreal-based Nuevo's four CAD 45 watches, which come in black, bronze, gold or silver. The watches are only sold online, which makes the app especially useful.

Website: www.neuvomonde.com

Thanks to insideretailling.com.au

Ice Cream Vending Machine!

Innovative marketers have begun reinventing how consumers engage with their products by transforming yesterday's transactional vending machines into today's powerful brand experience machines.

Enter Moobella.com

This innovative Ice Cream company has made choosing your ice cream an interactive, unique and engaging experience.

Moobella's revolutionary Ice Creamery Machine has made making ice cream simple. Using an interactive touch screen allows you to "make your own" delicious hard scoop ice cream – fresh, on-the-spot, in 3 easy steps and in only 40 seconds!

You can actually make up to 96 different combinations, choosing from 12 flavors and delicious mix-ins, in both Premium and Light ice cream. The MooBella® patented fresh churn technology blends, aerates and freezes your selection to create a perfect mouth-watering scoop of ice cream.

Have a go at making your own online: www.moobella.com

Store Renovations

We all know that store windows, when done well have the ability to really lift public mood. So given that insight it's nice to see some retailers going to town on their refurbishments. After all, why should a renovation leave the window looking shabby and dull.

I think all retailers should take a leaf out these guys' books:

Gucci in New York



Nespresso in Paris:



Christian Dior, New York:





And then of course no-one can forget Gap's famous demolition ad of 2005:

eBay for Wine Lovers!

Opening today is Australia's first dedicated wine auction house - Crackawines.com.
The brainchild of Wine Ark founder Dean Taylor and digital media specialist (and current COO of Carsales.com.au) Shane Pettiona.

Cracka’s Wine Auctions will begin everyday at 1pm, seven days a week where prices start at the RRP and continue to fall until all the stock has been sold. When you click to purchase it locks the price. Shop too early and you could miss out on a super-low price. Leave it too late and there may be no more stock left.

It follows a similar model to that of theoutnet.com, whose 'Going, Going, Gone' sales are the same reverse type of auction - once the sale clock starts counting the price drops - and will only run for a limited time.

And delivery is quick aswell with Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane customers assured to expect delivery of their auction purchases within 48 hours.

And as if you needed more reason to start bidding Cracka Wines is offering a $25 credit to new members and a chance to win $5000 in cash. In addition, all buyers go into a weekly draw for a bottle of Penfolds Grange during 2010.

Zara now shopping online

Finally, Zara have opened online shopping. Complete with Zara's famous 'look book', catalogue, newsletter subscription and magazine. You can browse through 1000's of current styles for men, women and kids.

The catch? Delivery is only available in Germany, Spain, The canary Islands, France, Italy, Portugal and the UK. So get on the phone to your European mates and start shopping through them!