Fashion Bloggers

About Fashion Bloggers

Today Fashion Bloggers are a big part of the fashion world, every retailer wants their products being worn by bloggers to help promote their brand and get customers buying their products. Fashion bloggers tend to focus on any new clothing items they have that they want to show their followers by taking photos of them wearing it and where they can purchase it from. They promote beauty products that they use, they put up images of things they like or that give them inspiration, they put up fashion advise for their readers and they post about retailers promotions. For my research I have chosen to research into 5 fashion bloggers that I follow myself, I want to find out what it is they do as a blogger and how they are influencing their readers. Fashion bloggers use all forms of media they can be found on twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube and on their blogs.

Link to book

Basics Fashion Design 01: Research and Design second edition By Sam Seivewright. 

Here is a book i found with some general information on blogging and how it has taken a big part in the fashion industry. Below is a copy of the text:

“Blogs are a huge growth area in the fashion media industry. With the global community that we al now live in, fashion blogs enable people to review, discuss and follow styles and trends from all around the world. In terms of research value, blogs offer an opportunity to gather style and trend information very easily and apply this to market awareness and new product development.

Fashion blogs can be categorized into many different fields, such as street style, high street fashion, haute couture, shoes, handbags, eco-fashion and celebrity style, for instance.

Fashion blogs are increasingly becoming a vital part of the mainstream fashion media and are easily accessible by a huge and diverse market. Blogs are also now integral to the PR strategies of many large fashion companies, as they provide an opportunity for them to promote their products and simultaneously enable interactive communication with their customers.

Blogs can be written by anyone, but in general they fall into three distinct categories, in terms of whether they are written by insiders, outsiders or aspiring insiders.

Insiders are those who work in the fashion industry and are able to offer professional opinions and points of view on current trends and packages.

Outsiders are those people who don’t work within the fashion industry but have a strong opinion on fashion due to their personal interest in it as a consumer. Finally, aspiring insiders are those people who wish to work in the industry and see blogging as a new media and a means of gaining attentions and possible employment. Many of these aspiring insiders have indeed found employment and are often invited to feature on mainstream media websites and to comment on events such as fashion weeks and designer shows.”

Fashion blogging is a career that has become very popular and now its a career that every girl wants. The Style Network have recently launches a new programme which follows the lives of fashion bloggers and shows what it is exactly they do for their job (below is a trailer for the programme) This is an example of how fashion blogger is seen as a big part of the fashion world today.

"Blogger Luke Langford set the record straight, “The term ‘Professional Blogger’” is no longer an oxymoron”. With the availability of the social media to reach an immeasurable audience, the bloggers of today are no longer only talking about their favourite things as a hobby, they’re full time professionals getting paid to advertise for huge brands, and influencing the way we use content."

Here is just a small article that talks about how fashion bloggers have become more influential and are now cashing in for it as being a blogger is now a profession which can be paid well if your in the right brand. Link to article


That Pommie Girl
Sarah Ashcroft
http://www.thatpommiegirl.com/

On her blog she has an about me page which is where she tells her followers a little bit about herself and how they can contact her.

This is the different type of media platforms she can be found on, her most popular sites are her Instagram and her blogger website.

Here is a screen grab from her Instagram which she is constantly uploading pictures to about new items she has found or just general images of what she is doing.

Sarah Ashcroft likes to make regular videos showing off her new clothing, she calls them "september hauls" or "Zara haul" just letting her readers know what items she is liking that month and where they can find it. She does do other videos on how to do make up and hair which is something a lot of bloggers tend to do as they receive comments on where they purchase their make up from or how do they style their hair in a certain way. Youtube is a really great way for the bloggers to interact with their followers. Below are some examples of what she records on her blogs.

Her Youtube page which is also called That Pommie Girl

Below are some examples of her instagram posts.

Get involved with brands and promote competitions for money off or a chance to win something.

Promotional code for her followers on new beauty products.

A lot of brands send Sarah free clothing to wear and then blog about here is an example of when Asos sent her some free items.

Free beauty products aswell as fashion.

Above are some examples of how Sarah works alongside different brands to help sell their products. A good example is Asos and how they have sent her free items so that she can blog about them, other brands such as Missguided and Boohoo also tend to do this as a way of promoting their items. Sarah use's various media platforms to show her blog, a good app is Instagram where she can take a picture at any time and upload straight from her phone.


In The Frow
Victoria
http://www.inthefrow.com/p/about.html

This is another fashion blogger that I follow. What I really like about this blogger is how she blogs about various topics that every girl can relate to, she uploads really useful links and images.

General about me info on her blog just so the follower can know abit about her and what it is that she does, helps create a friendly vibe.

Above is a list of different media platforms that you can find the blogger on.

A screen grab from her instagram

On this blog she offers a lot more features than just clothing advise, as you can see above she blogs about various things that can appeal to a wide audience and therefore it results in more followers. She talks about everyday items that girls would use such as beauty products, where to go on holidays and what gift ideas you can do. 

Alot of bloggers use a selling app called Depop where you can sell unwanted clothing, this is a really good idea as they are being sent clothes everyday and therefore they run out of room or it may not suit them so they put it on Depop and sell it their readers. It's usually at a reduced price but you have to pay for postage

Above are some examples of her Youtube videos that talk about her new items or gives tutorials on beauty tips.

Here is an example of how bloggers can be used to promote online retailers offers on their blogs or media platforms.

Things I do, think and buy

Charlotte Fisher

http://www.thingsidothinkandbuy.com/p/shop-my-wardrobe.html

Here is a screen grab of the about me page which tells her followers about her and what it is that she does, it lets her followers know that she doesn't just do fashion but she goes to university and has other interests.

A list of different topics she blogs about on her website.

Another blogger that uses the app Depop to sell her clothing that she blogs about.

LULUTRIXYBELL
Lucy Rance
http://www.lulutrixabelle.com/

Here is a screen grab of what social media she uses to promote her blog which is similar to the ones above.

A small section about who she is.

On her blog she promotes differnt magazines that she has collaberated with and that she can be found in some of the magazines listed.

A screen grab of her blog where she talks about products she she likes and how to find them.

Poor Little Rich Chick
Mel Ekrem 
http://www.poorlittlerichchick.co.uk/
This fashion blogger isn't as popular as the ones above as she is a university student and only does a blog as a hobby not a career, however she still has many followers and blogs about fashion and gives good advise and links on where to get good items.

This was a screen grab on her blog where she is promoting other brands and offers that her followers can use.

Examples from her Instagram

Professional type photos on her blog and links of where to purchase the items.

Interview a Blogger 

For part of my research I am really keen to contact one of the fashion bloggers above to ask them a few questions relating to fashion blogging, what it is they do and how they influence people. I thought this would help create some valid research which i could then put into my final essay and back up my view. So far I have only been able to get a response from one of the bloggers.

The email I sent out:

 The response I had:

The questions I have asked:

1) What is it you do as a fashion blogger?

2) Who is your target audience?

3) Who do you influence and how?

4) What social media sites do you use to promote yourself?

5) Do you use a lot of online retailers compared to high street stores?

6) Do you think online brands such as Missguided and Boohoo get more customers interest due to their fashion blogger campaigns?

7) Do you agree with how fashion bloggers are the future and are taking over the need for fashion magazines?

Interview Response 

1) What is it you do as a fashion blogger?

As a fashion blogger I do pretty much exactly what you see on my blog; I wear lovely clothes, travel to different locations and take lots of pictures!                             

 

2) Who is your target audience?

I try to keep my blog quite broad however I do mainly grab the attention of young women and girls aged 12 and over.

 

3) Who do you influence and how?

I mainly influence young women who have an interest in fashion and like to see how to put outfits together. Students are also a demographic which are interested in my blog as I try my best to ensure that anything I showcase is affordable as well as good quality. I do this by simply taking one or more items of clothing and showing different ways to wear them.

 

4) What social media sites do you use to promote yourself?

My website is hosted by Blogger and I use Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr to promote my blog.

 

5) Do you use a lot of online retailers compared to high street stores?

At the moment I definitely purchase more online than I do in high street stores. I often find myself seeing something I like on the high street and then searching through websites later on to find the best and cheapest alternative. I find online shopping much more convenient. I’m also very particular about my clothes so I can find exactly what I’m looking for online instead of spending hours wandering around shops.

 

6) Do you think online brands such as Missguided and Boohoo get more customers interest due to their fashion blogger campaigns?

I think Missguided and Boohoo are successful regardless, as their clothes are always on trend and well-priced. Now that they have started advertising themselves on TV I think they’ve established themselves as household names. I do think that bloggers have helped online brands by providing reviews or features on how to wear certain pieces of clothing, however the growth of customers for online brands is more dependent on the standard of clothing which is available.

 

7) Do you agree with how fashion bloggers are the future and are taking over the need for fashion magazines?

I can’t remember the last time I read a magazine! With the rapid growth of the internet, I think there are many forms of media which are thought to now be completely disregarded. In my opinion, I don’t think that magazines have been taken over by blogs but I do think that bloggers have forced magazines to be more active online. People opt to read blogs rather than magazines at times because of the appeal of seeing how a normal person takes attainable clothing to create stylish outfits. There’s also no catch! You don’t feel like you’re being sold something, it’s just another person sharing their wardrobe with you

So How Did It Start?

Here is just a quick timeline that a found on the website below that just gives a brief example of where blogging started and when. I thought this would be useful as I could mention how it has developed over time.

  "Do you know your fashion blogger history? Our community has been rapidly changing over the past couple years — so fast, in fact, that we’ve barely had time to take a look back at our progression. In honor of our 7th IFB Con (can you believe it!? 7!!), here’s brief peek at how bloggers have evolved thus far, a la timeline format. Let’s start from the beginning:

December 1978: As the result of a chance photograph of Greta Garbo, Bill Cunningham published a group of his impromptu pictures in the New York Times, which soon became a regular series now known as his street style column.

1992: Tim Berners-Lee launches the first Web site, which had a “What’s New” page informing readers about new information related to the Web site.

1994: Claudio Pinhanez of MIT publishes his “Open Diary,” a Web page documenting his life. Also, online diarist Justin Hall gains notoriety for creating a “personal homepage” on the Web covering his day-to-day activities in very revealing detail.

December 1997: Jorn Barger starts a daily log of interesting Web links published in reverse chronological order, calling it Robot Wisdom WebLog. The term “Weblog” is used online publishers to include any page with frequent short posts in reverse chronological order.

1998: Open Diary becomes one of the first online tools to assist users in the publishing of online journals. Other online journaling tools emerge, including LiveJournal (1999), DiaryLand (1999), Pitas (1999), Blogger (1999), Xanga (2000), Movable Type (2001) and WordPress (2003).

Spring 1999: Online journal author Peter Merholz takes Jorn Barger’s word “weblog” and splits it into the phrase “We blog.” Blog soon becomes shorthand for weblog — and 13 years later it’s still the term we use today!

1999: The development of RSS, or Really Simple Syndication makes it easier for people to subscribe to blog posts, as well as distribute them to other sites across the Internet.

2002: Fashion blogs begin to emerge on the internet.

2003: Glam Media, a company with more than 1,500 lifestyle websites and blogs, includingGlam.com, is founded. The basis includes an ad network, where blogs come together under umbrella advertisements.

September 2003: Kathryn Finney of The Budget Fashionista was invited to New York Fashion Week.

2003: Using the alias Bboy777, Bryan Grey Yambao joined the blogosphere and eventually built a following for himself after posting stories about his weight-loss goals, fashion purchases and hatred for fake designer goods — in 2004 he became “Bryanboy.”

October 2004: Manolo the “Shoe Blogger” starts writing posts to his site.

February 2004: The launch of Flickr, a photo-sharing community, helps popularize photo blogging.

2004: Videographer Steve Garfield launches his video blog and declares 2004 “The Year of the Video Blog,” more than a year before the birth of YouTube.

2005: Julie Fredrickson creates fashion blogging network Coutorture, which grows into an online publication, community and blog network comprised of over 240 editorially selected fashion, beauty, perfume, accessory, and streetwear blogs.

September 2005: The Sartorialist, aka Scott Schuman, begins blogging about fashion on the streets. According to an article on Business of Fashion: According to Mr. Schuman, The Sartorialist was originally inspired by Brooklyn-based writer Grace Bonney’s interior design blog Design*Sponge. “I could tell she was doing it by herself and I liked the idea that she was having an interaction,” he said. “She had like 30 comments on a post and I thought that was really cool.” Schuman decided to start a similar blog for fashion after examining a series of photos he had taken of a few stylish guys in New York’s Fulton fish market while on a photography course.

2006: The Fug Girls start writing for New York Magazine.

2006: The launch of Twitter, one of the first “micro-blogging” communities that allows user to publish and receive short posts via the Web, text messaging and instant messaging.

2006: A research report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project estimates that 12 million U.S. adults publish their own blogs.

2006: Julie Fredrickson ambushes Anna Wintour at New York Fashion Week.

2006: Manolo’s Shoe Blog was, “rumored to be [earning] around $700,000 a year.”

2007: Sugar, the San Francisco site for women’s content, announced it has acquired Coutorture.

2007: Technorati reports it is tracking more than 112 million blogs worldwide.

2007: Rumi Neely starts posting her vintage finds to eBay.

September 5, 2007: Founded by Jennine Jacob, IFB is created.

March 31, 2008: At age eleven, Tavi Gevinson begins writing “Style Rookie.”

2008: Neely launches a separate site to her eBay account, called “Fashion Toast,” and posts her first personal style photos.

April 2009: Neely is featured in CNN Money for her blogging business, which states she was getting “35,000 hits a day.”

September 2009:  IFB hosts an event with two panels about fashion blogging which evolved into the IFB Conference (and we are now presenting our 7th conference this September)!

2009: Dolce & Gabbana made news by filling its front row—typically the sole provenance of A-list actresses and Anna Wintour—with fashion bloggers, even equipping them with laptops.

2009: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) publishes its regulations regarding bloggers.

September 2010: Kim France, the founding editor of Lucky Magazine, leaves the print biz to start her own blog, at age 48.

2010: Leandra Medine, creator of The Man Repeller, was studying journalism in college when she started her blog.

2010: The FTC publicly investigates the company Ann Taylor after mandating an update that stipulates that bloggers must disclose “any material connections they share with the seller of the product or service” when writing about it. Bloggers and brands can be fined up to $11,000 for failing to reveal sponsorships. According to Mashable, “Ann Taylor invited bloggers to preview its Summer 2010 LOFT collection, promising attendees a ‘special gift’ and entry into a ‘mystery gift-card drawing’ for those who submitted posts to the company within 24 hours of the event. Ann Taylor avowed to reveal the value of the gift cards, which ranged from $50 to $500, to bloggers after receiving their posts.” No fines were levied.

October 2011: Notable fashion journalist Derek Blasberg, Harper’s Bazaar Editor at Large and a published author, starts a blog on the side called, “Mr. Blasberg.”

June 2012: Scott Schuman states he was disgruntled by the D&G fashion show back in 2009 in an article by GQ: “[Dolce & Gabbana] got a humongous amount of press. … ‘Look, we brought the bloggers in and gave them the front row. Look at the dancing-monkey bloggers!’ ” He then added, “I could barely bring myself to sit down.”

2012: Nick Axelrod leaves Elle for Emily Weiss’s beauty blog Into The Gloss, where he is in the early stages of hiring contributing writers.

2012: Leandra Medine is also expanding her content by trying out new writers so that she may transition from a “blog” to a website — which she describes as a cross between Vogue and Jezebel.

2012: Tavi Gevinson parlays Style Rookie into Rookie Mag, a larger site for young women.

So, what’s next in the timeline? It seems that a few of the more prominent personal bloggers are expanding to develop bigger websites. Does this mean that bloggers are headed to be the next big time fashion editors, presenting their insight on the web rather than in pages of a glossy? What do you think?"Link to page

Below is an article I found which discusses how the popularity of bloggers has grown, every brand wants a blogger to be promoting their products but it also discusses how being a fashion blogger is a full time job not a hobby which is what some peoples opinion of what the job is.

Link to article


Blogger Statistics 

For part of my research I thought that as well as getting my own personal information, it would be useful to get some factual information such as statistics to help back up my opinion.
Here is the link where I found these statistics Link to website

Other Types of Bloggers
As part of my research I wanted to look into other types of blogging and what it is they do and if it is similar to fashion blogging.

Gaming Blogger http://www.thegamersblog.com/
I did some brief research into a typical gaming blog and what features their blog has. This is what I found

Youtube page

Different parts on the blog that they talk about similar to fashion blogs.

Twitter as a form of media to promote themselves 

Film Blogger http://www.slashfilm.com/

 Different sections on the blog that they talk about.

News Blogger http://blogs.thenews.com.pk/blogs/

The different media sites they use to promote the news updates.

A store managers opinion on how internet shopping is affecting the high street

For part of my research I wanted to find out how retailers thought the online shopping experience was affecting the traditional shopping experience. I decided to create a set of questions and then go and ask managers in retail their answers. Below is the set of questions I devised.

1. Do you think as a store you offer a better experience to shoppers than online?
2. What do you do to ensure people visit your store rather than online retailers?
3. Do you find promotions help draw customers in even if they are also online?
4. Do you get a lot of online returns?
5. Do you think you would benefit from having an online ordering system that is in store?
6. Do you yourself prefer to shop online or visit the store?
7. In your own opinion how do you think online shopping will affect high street retailers in the future?

One of the people I asked was Hannah Delahunt who is the women's wear manager at John Lewis Milton Keynes 07/10/14. Below are her answers:

1. Yes, due to customer interaction and customer service. We are able to include additional services and offer add-on sales to personalise an outfit/shopping for the customer.
2. Keep up to date with key trends and react to them and ensure that all staff are knowledgeable as well as optimum customer service.
3. Yes, a lot of customers still prefer shopping in store when they can visually see the products and try it on.
4. Yes, due to brands we do not stock in Milton Keynes and customers ordering several choices and sizes for an outfit.
5. Yes, we currently have one and it works well to offer alternatives or when we do not have the stock in their size as well as engaging the customer on our website so they can use it in fire as well as in store.
6. Visit the store as outfits are built and it is easier and more leisure able as well as interaction for customer service.
7. It will have a big affect on smaller retailers, as more customers move online due to it being accessible 24/7 and easier for customers with a fast paced, short of time busy working lifestyle. However the novelty of going shopping in store will always be apparent as long as retailers keep up to date and deliver what the customer wants.

My interview with the store manager at Bedford Outfit.
Paul Dunn 18/10/14

1) I think as a store we offer an overall better experience. We allow our customers to come in and try the clothing, get help from our sales advisors and have a chance to get out and socialise, see what is happening in the stores rather than just looking at a computer screen.

2) Outfit offer more than any usual store as we offer 6-8 different brands under one roof and each one is aimed at a different target market, as a store we are always holding events/promotions for our products and in weeks like this we tend to do really well as a store. One of our offers that we do is an account card promotion and on these occasions customers with Outfit store cards can receive 20% off in store which isn't available online and its for all brands.

3) Yes promotions are very important when it comes to attracting customers as a lot of our target market aren't on a high incomes and love to buy products at a discounted price.

4) We do a very high amount of refunds, Monday is a typical refund day as its after the weekend and a lot of customers buy online and don't like the product once they receive it.

5) At the moment we use our iPad to do online orders for our customers which works exactly the same as them doing it from home, I think we would really benefit from having an online system as we only have concessions so there are occasions where we don't have the right size or stock for the customer. However technology can be quite expensive and at the moment it isn't seen as needed but it may possibly be in the future.

6) As I am an older gentlemen if I have to do my shopping then I just go to stores to do it.

7)At the moment technology is having a big impact on high street sales but I think high street will combine with technology to help bring it into stores. I don't see stores closing down as stores will always be desirable for customers to come and get the traditional shopping experience.

How Do Fashion Bloggers Influence People?

A big part of my research is looking at how fashion bloggers actually influence people, how do they get them to follow their blogs, how do they get people to purchase the clothes they blog about? 

Retailers use bloggers to help promote their products this is done through social media sites such as twitter, facebook, instagram, pinterest and blog pages. Looking at the various bloggers from above I can see that they are always putting up new pictures of products they buy and telling people where they can buy them from this is done by a simple click on the product and its gives you a link straight to the item. Fashion bloggers are constantly uploading good deals and offers of where to buy products not just fashion but beauty products aswell, it makes their readers see a bargain and are impulsed to click on it and buy it, the idea of fashion bloggers is for them to influence people into buying things and majority of girls who want to keep up with the latest trends and key outfit ideas will see these blogs and instantly want the look and then go on to purchase the products. People don't need to buy magazines anymore to see all the latest fashion, its just one click away on a laptop or smart tablet.

Here is an article that I found on the Independent Fashion Blogger Website which talks about how the rise of fashion bloggers has started influencing consumers to buy products and therefore retailers are being advised to invest more money into blogger campaigns as this is the way forward as its linked to internet shopping which is over taking the traditional shopping experience people have.In this article they say " However when it comes to blogging, a good portion of blogs are indeed editorial, and they do help consumers discover new products that might not have crossed their paths" This is a very valid comment as it is a bloggers job to find brands they maybe aren't as advertised as your typical high street brands and this excites consumers as its retailers they have never used before. The article also includes some interesting statistics on how people use online sites to shop.  Link to article

In this article they discuss how "Bloggers are the latest tool fashion brands are using to promote their products" which is exactly what is happening and it has a massive impact on the consumers buying these products. "It’s only been within the past few years that bloggers have been able to cut through the clutter of Web chatter and turn their musings and personal tastes into influence." Nowadays anyone can become a blogger and talk about anything that interests them due to all these social media sites now available.

Link to article

Here is a link to a case study which talks about how fashion bloggers are becoming the most influential people in the fashion industry. It says how "The rise of digital technologies has enabled consumers to connect and interact with one another via the Internet, but it has also encouraged consumers to share their feelings and opinions on products and organisations" This is one of the main ways bloggers influence people to purchase products online - 

"Our participants not only read blogs to find out what other people were wearing, they also reviewed multiple blog sites in order to maintain their social identity, that is, they wanted to make sure they made the right fashion choices" 

"Some of the participants also felt confident to purchase certain items once they saw others wearing it, hence highlighting how the product diffusion process begins."

 Link to article

http://www.miamifashionweek.com/fashion-bloggers-influence-magazines/

Above is a article I found which talks about how fashion bloggers are becoming more popular than magazines. I think this is partly true, due to all the social media that is now available people are starting to become less interested in paper copies and are more interested in keeping up to date and seeing what fashion bloggers are saying about the current trends and key looks. 

A comment that I thought was quite interesting to read was how bloggers are influential because they are seen as normal approachable people. "The profession of a blogger is a curious case because it is not a planned career but rather a career that one transitions into thanks to their unexpected popularity with people. The likable factor is that most bloggers are unassuming, normal people, and approachable which makes them trustworthy. Being trusted is what makes them influencers, and fashion bloggers have that covered."

Below is an article I found on The Guardian which talks about how you get plus size bloggers which appeal to the larger audience. I found this really interesting because it talks about how plus size women can still blog about the clothes they wear and feel comfortable in how they look which is inspiring other women to be confident and not feel like they can't wear certain clothes because of their body shape. It also talks about how alot of retailers have started using these bloggers to promote their clothes as this is a big part of fashion and how brands need to provide more for the larger women.

Link to article

Here is an online video I found where they discuss how fashion bloggers are influential, I thought this would be a useful source to refer to when writing my essay as its people opinions.

The impact of fashion bloggers: The global rise of the fashion social Influencer

Here I found a really useful article which looks at how influential Facebook, twitter ad blogs can be to the cosumers.Link

Here is a graph showing the statistics of how many people use social media sites and which ones are most popular.

Here it shows how blogger is one of the most influential media sites that people use which is an interesting finding compared to other media sites.

This statistic I found really interesting because it shows what other interests people look on blogs for other than fashion.

Pinterest is a newer form of media that is taking the interest of people today.

Online Retailers and Bloggers

This part of my research focuses on how retailers collaborate with fashion bloggers to promote their products. I will be looking at various retailers to see how they use different media platforms and promotions. 

Motelhttp://www.motelrocks.com/

Here are some examples of the bloggers for Motel, they have used two of the bloggers I have researched above to show off their products in a "party pick" special. I knew about this blogging event as it was on their instagrams. This was people can see what pieces are the best and look nice and therefore they end up buying the product.

Boohoo http://www.boohoo.com/ 

In the blogging section on BooHoo they have a page of the bloggers top picks from the website but no images of them actually wearing them, this is still a good way of showing some of their best products but not as affective as a blogger actually wearing the item.

Pretty little Thing https://www.prettylittlething.com/

Pretty Little Thing replys alot on their bloggers as this is an online retailer that isnt as heard of as more popular ones such as Asos, the first time I heard about this online retailer was when I saw a fashion blogger blog about some of their clothing which lead to me following them on Instagram and having a look on their website.

 This Charlotte Fisher the blogger I looked at previously.

This is the blogger Sarah Ashcroft

Fashion Unionhttp://www.fashionunion.com/

Fashion union have a feature where they have different bloggers wearing different trends for inspiration to the customer. This is another website that I hadn't heard of until I saw it on a blog.

In Love With Fashion https://www.inlovewithfashion.com/

In Love With Fashion is a small brand that features a lot of clothing ranges from celebrities off of Only Way is Essex. Because they are a small retailer they rely on a lot of their items being shown on different forms of media and fashion bloggers is one of them. The blogger Sarah Ashcroft models for this brand and regularly posts about their products on their blogs and Instagram.

In The Style http://inthestyle.com/

In The Style is a brand that collaborates a lot with celebrities such as Lauren Pope and Charlotte Crosby and fashion bloggers work alongside the celebrities to blog about their clothing lines.

After looking into various online retailers I can see that they all have a section on their websites which is dedicated to bloggers. A lot of the fashion bloggers that I have researched above are featured on these sites promoting  their products. Looking on their twitter pages and on instagram, they are always wearing these brands and getting sent free clothing and taking part in photo shoots for their new stock. I think this is a really good way of online retailers getting people to shop on their website as their disadvantage is you can't go to the high street and buy their products, by using bloggers it makes people more aware of these brands and the bloggers are there to advise people on what trends are in and what are the best looks this season. Most magazines you buy tend to focus more on your high street stores such as Topshop, RiverIsland and Primark or if you look at the top end magazines like Vogue and Elle they focus on designer brands, therefore it is hard for online retailers to promote their products. This is one of the reasons why bloggers are being more influential that magazines as they are more current and focus on what is happening now, the truth of it is, is that online shopping is more popular than visiting the high street and fashion bloggers are the people that are finding this online brands and promoting them.

How Do People Engage in Retail.

In this part of my research I wanted to take a look at how people actually engage in retail, what ways do they shop and why.I feel this is relevant to my research because I can see how in links in with fashion bloggers and makes people shop on social media sites rather than visit the stores.

Here is a screen grab from the book Branded!: How Retailers Engage Consumers with Social Media. By Bernie Brennan Book Link

"The proportion of sales made online fell by 0.2% to account for 11.0% of all sales in August 2014. Despite this fall in the proportion of sales, the amount spent online increased by 8.3% in August 2014 compared with August 2013."

Link

Facebook
Facebook is a really good source of retailers promoting their products and any promotional offers that they have. Using facebook people can then have access to viewing it whenever and they can also comment on any new status's that they post. Facebook is also a site that is available anywhere in the world on different technologies.

Asos

Topshop

Twitter
Similar to Facebook retailers can use Twitter to create pages where they tweet about new products and promotions and people can tweet them about any questions they have or items they have bought that they want to show which is another good form of promotion for the brand.

River Island

 MissGuided

Pinterest
This is a newer media site that people have started using, its similar to Instagram and how people upload images of things that inspire them or interests them and then anyone who has a pinterest can access the images. 

Instagram
Instagram is one of the most popular forms of media and how people can engage in shopping, a lot of retailers have profiles and are constantly uploading pictures of promotions and new items and how people can get hold of them, its a great way of people engaging with retail to find out what is available to buy.

TV Adverts
This isn't a very popular form of how people can engage in retail anymore, a lot of brands focus more on social media sites rather than traditional advertising techniques. However there are still retailers than put adverts on TV to promote their new lines that are now available to buy.

Magazine's
Magazines is one of the most traditional ways of people engaging in retail, people can go to the shop and purchase a magazine or now they can access magazines from the internet and download a copy to their smart phones/ tablets

Email's
Retailers are constantly sending out emails about their offers and new products they have inshore, this is a good way of people engaging in retail because they don't have to go out and find the information themselves, it is sent to them and with links of where to find it.

Here is an article I found on how social media is affecting the shopping experience to make consumers buy online.

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network-partner-zone-ebay/social-media-retail-brands-ebay

Here is an interesting article which looks at the statistics of how social media is used to influence people into buying their products. "Social networks do not drive a lot of e-commerce sales directly but they do influence shoppers by helping them discover new products to buy. Now some retailers are leveraging that influence to drive sales in stores."


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-retailers-are-using-social-media-in-stores-to-drive-sales-2014-6#ixzz3Iwjgd8SG

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-retailers-are-using-social-media-in-stores-to-drive-sales-2014-6?IR=T

BLOGGERS VS MAGAZINES


Having done research on fashion bloggers a big issue that keeps appearing is how people are saying that fashion bloggers are taking over the need for fashion magazines. At all the fashion shows its bloggers that you see sitting front row, retailers want to be part of the big blogger campaigns that are helping their sales, majority of people interested in fashion follow bloggers to keep up with the latest trends and new products, there is no need to go out to a shop and buy a magazine when you have access to this information anywhere on your laptop or smart phone and its free! Fashion bloggers offer more than magazines as they promote retailers that aren't as heard of as your typical Topshop or River Island brand. This shows how its not just the typical shopping experience bloggers are changing but also he typical experience of seeing the new fashion trends. Its all turning from print to digital.

In this article they talk about how people prefer to use fashion bloggers as its more personal than magazines which I completely agree with, people want to have some that inspires them and offer good advise whereas with a magazine you don't tend to get that as much and i think that is one of the reasons why fashion bloggers are proving more popular than magazines.http://www.thefashionglobe.com/fashion-magazines-vs-blogs

Here is a link to an article that talks about how fashion magazines are collaborating with bloggers for reasons such as asking to share some of their style street pictures or getting them to feature in an article of even write a column. Here is a quote from the article that I think is a good example of blogging "Bloggers can post immediately. They serve a different purpose.”  This is a way of how bloggers are one step ahead of magazines because they reply on digital media to show their work rather than waiting for something to get printed an released. http://heartifb.com/2012/09/11/fashion-blogging-vs-magazines-what-does-the-future-hold/

Company Magazine

Company magazine has a big focus on fashion bloggers in their articles

Fashion Bloggers Awards
A lot of the fashion bloggers that I follow are always involved in different blogging awards, these are usually in collaboration with fashion magazines as fashion bloggers have become a big part of magazines and their focus on the fashion on the high street and seeing what the bloggers are wearing. I think this is a good way of seeing that magazines aren't in competition with fashion bloggers and that they can work together together to help give the ultimate fashion experience.

http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/entertainment/a30262/event-overview-blog-awards-2014/