What are the top 100 online fashion stores visited by Australian consumers?
Two television producers and online shopping aficionados have developed an online guidebook www.stateofshop.com to tackle the big question.
In addition to the shopping directory, the website features a dedicated style blog.
The concept was developed by Keely Sonntag and Cathy Riddett in after they met and worked on the set of Big Brother.
The pair spent thousands of hours personally researching, shopping and making returns with global online clothing stores.
Sonntag said this is a unique concept.
"This leading-edge guidebook, which took more than 12 months for us to compile, encompasses the likes of Shopbop, Net-A-Porter and The Iconic, plus lesser-known, but equally impressive stores such as Motel, Need Supply Co. and The Enabler.
"Fashion is the second most popular category of online purchases Australians make,
behind entertainment and leisure, with the majority of those purchases made by women.
"But contrary to what you might think, 75 per cent of women who shop online for fashion actually prefer buying quality products over finding a bargain, and that’s where State of Shop comes in."
Each store was anonymously shopped and reviewed by the pair, with listed sites having to meet a minimum of eight of 10 formulated criteria.
This included stores offering delivery within two weeks, reasonable return and refund policies, items being photographed on real models and having an easy-to-navigate site.
"It was an arduous process visiting and scrutinising over 600 online stores. Unexpectedly some well-regarded stores didn’t make the grade.
"This is the first of many unrivalled online shopping guidebooks to
come," Sonntag said.