Online Shopping Made Easy

A: Online-fashion retailers keep gaining ground—creating a dizzying array of merchandise that you can efficiently sift through, with the help of a new generation of useful shopping sites and free mobile apps.

Online personal shoppers and stylists can help hone your look and assemble outfits suited just for you. OK, so it’s not the customary face-to-face appointment with the personal shopper at a department store. But you can make a phone date with your online stylist, if you need to talk it over. Last year, I spent a half-hour talking with a knowledgeable stylist at luxury retailer Net-a-Porter.com, who wisely counseled me (after I gave her lots of measurements) not to purchase a pair of Rick Owens leather pants because I fell between two sizes—and she didn’t recommend alterations. I valued her frank advice.

Put your smartphone to work to steer you to shopping apps when you want to see all the latest trends, such as a suede moto jacket or a fringed handbag. The most useful sites allow you to compare and contrast fashion labels at a range of prices and sizes. They also alert you to markdowns on your preferred watch-list, as well as to discount coupons that are currently in effect.

Create your own virtual bulletin board (try the Pinterest and Polyvore sites) with looks you spotted on the runway, in magazines and on Instagram. Keep track of your favorites by checking the “wish list” feature that most online stores provide.

Shopstyle.com pioneered the ability to search for specific fashions—type in “yellow skinny pants” and choose your size and price range. Seconds later you are delivered options, linked to the stores that sell them. The Keep Shopping app markets popular fashions and home decorations trending across the web. There’s also Stylect—a footwear app that helps you cull through thousands of shoe styles from Christian Louboutin to Nike, that you can purchase right through Stylect.

What makes online shopping a real breeze is the ability to use your smartphone to load up on merchandise across multiple retailers and then check out everything together—the “universal shopping cart”—with the swipe of a finger that goes to a single credit card. This feature is now available to iPhone users via the fashion-centric Minerapp, featuring merchandise from an array of stores. On Minerapp, you can view everything together, facilitating side-by-side comparisons of items across your phone screen. You can pull together an outfit with components from different stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Banana Republic and Forever 21—and pay for them together. Retailers’ rules on free shipping, loyalty programs, returns and so forth aren’t affected by the app.Read more at:prom dresses uk | evening dresses