The websites of The Telegraph, Daily Mail, GMTV and Marie Claire, to name a few, use either ShopStyle or LynkU to power their branded shops.

Daily Mail’s online fashion shop

The publishing and media groups see online retail as a way of generating revenue by sharing affiliate commissions with the shopping aggregators.

You’ve probably heard that some publishing groups are looking to introducing pay walls, with users charged micro-payments for content.

If this happens it is likely there will be less visitors finding the publisher’s fashion content through search; leading to a reduced opportunity to direct people to a branded shop.

Less affiliate commission potential all round then? Not a problem for the publisher, if of course they end up making more money from charging users for content than driving online retail sales.

But it does matter to the aggregator, who needs the publisher to achieve reach.

It does matter to the online retailer, who sees conversions coming through from publishers.

And it does matter to the affiliate networks, for obvious reasons.

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I recently met up with Joanna Perry, the technology expert at Retail Week.

If you’re readinig this you must know Retail Week as a must-read for those in, erm, retail.

Drapers is the staple for the fashion industry, and Retail Week has a particular focus on what’s happening generally in the sector of consumer selling.

Joanna covers retail technology for the publication, everything from IT systems to e-commerce issues.

She quickly picked up on HabitatTwitterGate, and was - albeit unwittingly - quoted in The Telegraph’s coverage of the fiasco.

Joanna and I spoke about some of the hot topics within online fashion retail, including creating blogs.

Setting up and strategising content on blogs is something I help fashion brands with, so I was more than happy to answer the reader dilemma recently sent in to Retail Week (featured here).

Joanna and I at the Online Fashion 100 event / Photo courtesy of Fashshot

Joanna hosted the Retail Week Technology Awards last month and was in work the next day despite the 4am finish.

She made a Twitter plea in the morning for a McFlurry. I don’t know if she got it, but she did have drinks and canapes at the Online Fashion 100 event that evening!

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Which online fashion stores does NOW magazine editor Abigail Blackburn rate?

Read my latest Drapers blog, ‘Interview with NOW magazine editor Abigail Blackburn (Part 2)’

See Part 1 of the interview here

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What does the internet mean to the editor of Britain’s premier celebrity weekly?

Abigail Blackburn, editor of NOW magazine, reveals her must-read websites, views on blogging and the role of showbiz gossip forums.

So, what are your favourite websites?
Abigail: I’m a regular on Wonderwall, The Superficial and People.com (and its Celebrity Baby Blog).

My guilty secret is First Lady of Style because I actually don’t feel my week’s complete if I haven’t checked out what Michelle Obama’s been wearing - I obsess about all her belts and most of her dresses.

First Lady of Style & Deadline Hollywood Daily

I also check out Deadline Hollywood Daily for US industry gossip, Girl With A Satchel to keep up with Aussie media gossip and The Style Editor because, in all seriousness, NOW’s Alison Tay is an enigma whose blog is always full of surprises, even though I can see her desk from my office.

It’s the only way I can keep up with her. 

The Digital Spy Showbiz forum has a huge user generated blind items thread. What part, if any at all, do gossip forums play in getting new stories for NOW?

A: They play a role if there’s suddenly a big interest or outcry over a celebrity who’s key for NOW’s cast list.

So if there’s a massive reaction over Jennifer Aniston or Cheryl Cole then we may well pick up on that and mention it as part of a feature.

However forums don’t generate complete stories for us as they’re still one step too removed from the celebrity and tend to be litigious. Our news team always work with great sources or they wouldn’t get any story past our lawyers.

Do you see blogs as a way to spot new writing talent for the magazine?
A: Mainly in the sense that it helps to loosen up the writing of staff who are currently blogging as well as writing on the page for the print mag.

Blogging lends itself to a much more informal style and letting that filter through to the magazine makes it feel more contemporary.

I get lots of emails from people asking me to check out their blogs, but I’m afraid I don’t always find the time to take them up on their offer, thanks to the 100+ emails I receive daily.

See Part 2 of the interview here on Drapers Online.

The new look NOW is on sale. See more on www.nowmagazine.co.uk

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I recently went to lunch with editor of Drapers, Lauretta Roberts and Keely Stocker, the Digital Content Manager of the Drapers Online website.

For those of you not aware of Drapers, it’s a weekly fashion retail industry magazine being a must-read for everyone in fashion, from the up-and-coming to the retail elite.

I have written a blog for Drapers since last summer, and was on the judging panel of the Drapers Etail Awards which took place earlier this year.

The awards will be back next year, and I am told it will be much bigger as the January event was sold out and there were a huge amount of entries; proof that the e-commerce sector is booming, and a testament to Drapers that such an industry accolade is so sought after.

There may also be new award categories too, which is great, as it opens up options to online retailers.

I asked Keely if there would be a separate navigation tab on the Drapers Online website for E-Commerce, as it’s such a popular area, and she said it was being looked into.

Lauretta mentioned there is a Drapers conference dedicated to online retail planned for October, which is around the same time we should be hearing about the next Etail Awards.

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What did you think of Online Fashion 100?
A great idea. My mum couldn’t understand why I wasn’t at number one though!

Who in the list would you most like to be stuck in a lift with?
For stealing style tips, definitely Natalie Massenet. I suppose with net-a-porter as your own private wardrobe, it’s not difficult to be well-dressed, but she always looks so effortlessly chic.

If I’m going to be there for ages, probably Maria Milano; we’re old friends, having sat next to each other for three years when she edited GQ.com and I edited Glamour.com, so always have plenty to gossip about.

You worked with My-Wardrobe on a trends channel, would you like to work more closely with retailers on content in the future?
We’re always on the hunt for new partners and have done some great partnership work this year with Wallis, Uniqlo, Lastminute.com and i-escape.com, to name just a few.

Carla Bevan is the editor of MarieClaire.co.uk

Some say in a recession sales of shoes, make-up and accessories grow faster than that of other fashion items. Do you believe this theory, and is it impacting your content plans?
Yes, definitely, it’s far easier to update your wardrobe with a few well-chosen accessories, than expensive top-to-toe outfits.

We’re ensuring we include plenty of shoes and bags in our ever-popular Buy of the Day slot and our What to Wear This Week feature. Having said that, our readers seem to love reading about dresses, too, right now.

If you could choose a fashion blogger to do your job for a day who would it be?
Tavi, of tavi-thenewgirlintown.blogspot.com - she’s ace.

Visit the Marie Claire website

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I popped in to the, soon to be departed, London office of online fashion store Oli to meet Karen Allen and Katie Tibbs.

Me with Karen Allen (left) and Katie Tibbs (right)

Karen and Katie are based in Bradford but occasionally make the trip down to the capital for meetings.

We chatted about who the Oli customer is and what celebrities she looks to for style inspiration.

Karen brought up an old debate on whether Danielle Lloyd was an Oli-girl celebrity.

It reminded me of an online store I used to work with. An outfit Danielle wore, soon after leaving Celebrity Big Brother, sold out unbelievably fast – whether she would have that effect now is unlikely.

On another note, it’s no secret that Oli has been through some major changes of late.

Responding to the current climate the business has restructured. The Oli customer magazine is no more, the buying has been moved abroad and a lot has been outsourced.

It’s a clever strategy that will hopefully see the business maintain its position, ready to reinvest when things pick up.

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A few years ago I worked with the guys at Search Engine Marketing agency Weboptimiser on campaigns for clients such as Jobserve, Nestle and Bourne Leisure.

It wasn’t unusual to do a bit of a tidy up when we were expecting clients to visit, but last week the team must have had their work cut out in preperation for a visit from Gordon Brown.

OK, so he’s not royalty and neither is he the most charismatic leader, but still, the most powerful man in the country.

A great coup for a great company.

And it’s a good thing when the most powerful man in the country takes time to visit a search engine marketing company, something to be celebrated by the whole industry - especially when few people outside of media actually know what it is (see recent research on said matter on blogstorm).

Don’t worry, Gordon hasn’t given up the day job - much as I’m sure he is interested in title tags, URL rewrites and link reworking, he made the visit to the company to discuss the new loan guarantee scheme of which Weboptimiser, as a small business, benefits.

With Jonathan Ross using Twitter and Gordon Brown swotting up on search, it looks as if social media marketing has just gone mainstream.

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“The bigger the star the more money you’ll make” – that’s what celebrity photo agency Big Pictures, founded by Darren Lyons, says of its brokering service.

Register with the website, upload the photo and within 48 hours you’ll be told if your snap can be sold to a tabloid or magazine.

Every single person with a camera phone is a potential paparazzo. A nightmare for many celebrities, but a blessing to publicity hungry.

A new service called Demotix, which works on the same principle of citizen journalism, wants to be to The Telegraph what Big Pictures is to Heat.

The only difference is the photos on Demotix are publicly available to view. It’s much more of a social network.

I first heard of the website after reading a review of it by Mike Butcher on the popular Tech Crunch UK – a review which provoked a pretty contentious discussion.

So when I was given the opportunity to interview Turi Munthe, the founder of this controversial, exciting and innovative start-up, I had to say yes.

Click here to read the interview.

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This is Knitkat, the Meerkat that meets my requirements.

Knitkat loves wool, and can knit.

Find the right Meerkat for you at comparethemeerkat.com.

Alternatively, get insurance quotes from www.comparethemarket.com

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Chipmunk came to my attention after winning Best Newcomer at the MOBO Awards.

I found this video of him on YouTube doing freestyle on a BBC 1Xtra show.

In the background of the radio studio you’ll see Sky News is on. Nice to see the BBC [not] supporting each other was my first thought, but then I began to wonder whether the BBC News crew would be listening to BBC 1Xtra? Doubt it.

Chipmunk does however make up for the lack of Auntie self loving - listen to his lyrics and you’ll notice EastEnders gets a plug.

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Two experts in online advertising Simon Stone and Fiza Khan, and the IAB, give me their opinion on advertising in catch up TV services.

Read the full article on the IAB website.

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Read my article ‘Simon Cowell to choose new X Factor judge via social media?’ on E-Consultancy.

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Shortly after Saturday’s The X Factor the Daily Mail website published a story about the feud between Dannii Minogue and Louis Walsh. Quick huh?

The Daily Mail seem to understand the importance of breaking news online (extra Google love), but they seem to place story updates within the same article.

If they want to maximise visits they should write fresh articles whenever there is an update - this is because Google News will only spider content once, and Google News I’m sure is one of the Daily Mail’s biggest traffic drivers.

Reality TV blog Unreality TV didn’t do too badly either. They reported it as quickly as the Daily Mail, which provided an area for people to discuss the programme quickly - there’s a reason why it’s one of the most commented posts on the website in a short space of time.

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Internet business has changed to meet the demands and expectations of the growing numbers of online shoppers, shifting their pounds from the high street to the internet.

But with many high street stores now offering the same prices as their online counterparts, the internet is no longer always cheaper.

Let’s take a look at how online stores can launch an offline presence to continue the trend of growing numbers of online shoppers, now that price is no longer a stark differentiator.

Web to high street
Taking a successful online operation to the high street seems to be a key move for fashion websites. Other sectors must follow surely?

Recently at the Drapers Online Fashion Retailing Conference Nick Robertson of ASOS said he would consider launching a flagship store for the online brand.

Fashion website Lipsy is too opening a store in London’s Brent Cross.

Old media partnerships
Old media brands and online retailers partnering – like OK! Magazine and Glasses Direct - is something we’re definitely going to see a lot more of in the future.

It gives the online retailer the ability to capture an audience offline.

Interactive TV
This is definitely an area with a lot of potential for online stores that hit the demographic of TV shoppers.

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