Aiming to become the first stop for online shoppers of apparel and accessories, Google Inc. launched a fashion e-commerce site Boutiques.com, which uses human curators, visual recognition and machine learning technology to recommend items to shoppers.
The move thrusts the Mountain View, Calif., Internet giant into the rapidly growing online fashion market, an area in which Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc. are stepping up their offerings. It's a lucrative market, with the online apparel and accessories industry hitting $19 billion in the U.S. in 2009, according to comScore Inc., and growing fast.
Boutiques.com doesn't sell the items, which come from hundreds of online merchants such as Ralph Lauren, Steve Madden and Juicy Couture, but directs shoppers to sites where they can be purchased. Other sites such as Polyvore.com and Kaboodle.com, also are attempting to make shopping and browsing for apparel more fun.
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