How to Make Your Fashion Images Shoppable with Stipple

Let’s be honest, it’s hard not to love Pinterest’s display of eye-catching images and the ability to follow the most recent creations of our favorite designers and inspirations all from one dashboard.  However, even though Pinterest is beginning to offer brands shoppable features, the real potential of the site as an e-commerce shopping platform has yet to be realized, which has been a bit frustrating for brands that are trying to justify the time spent on the platform….We all seem to get lost in that endless scroll of beautiful imagery.

How can emerging designers sell their products, capture new interest, and drive revenue all through the power of product images?

Stipple, which has been around for a few years now but seems to have improved over time, is an online and mobile app that allows brands to post images or videos of their products, along with product information, price, and a shoppable link. Calling themselves “the first in-line commerce solution based on images”, Stipple helps brands create revenue by enabling consumers to browse, compare, and ultimately purchase products in-line on social media or on popular websites.

How Does Stipple Work?

The Stipple shopping experience is entirely centered around your product image. Your interested customers can explore and buy your products without ever having to leave the product image that initially caught their attention on social media or in the awesome content that’s on your own website.

Considering how often ecommerce shoppers seem to get lost along the purchasing timeline, simplifying the process as much as possible is definitely important for you to keep in mind.

When the viewer rests his or her mouse on an image, a pop-up box will display the product name, the price, and a “shop” button that will send them directly to your site to make a purchase. And yes, you can make several products shoppable within one image.

Why You Might Want to Use Stipple

• Integration with Social Media- your customers have the option to like or share your item via Facebook and Twitter. This means two things: you boost visibility for your brand across social media channels and potential new customers who run across these posts will then be able to shop your items directly from their Facebook Newsfeeds or Twitter Feeds.
• User-Friendly and a Time-Saver- As an emerging designer with oversight of most everything happening at your brand, you already have your hands full.  Stipple will automatically tag your entire product feed for you, and connect the product information you provide to the appropriate images. You will however retain complete control over your brand’s photos and the information you would like to be associated (i.e. keywords and price), throughout the entire process.
• Secure Payment-  Stipple operates in the front-end of the e-commerce process, connecting interested consumers to your website. From there, the actual purchasing and payment process takes place from your own site which also means more traffic in general to your site.

One of the great advantages to in-line e-commerce shopping tools is the importance they place on the product image. This is helpful for emerging designers who have not yet generated enough brand buzz to drive revenue solely on brand name or logo.

All designers are placed on an equal playing field when capturing interest and getting a consumer to click comes down to simply the appeal of a product image.

Note: According to Inc. Magazine, Stipple is “Free for social-media campaigns with up to 1,000 engagements, then $250 a month and up.”  But to be honest, we had a hard time finding that information on the Stipple website.

What to do think about this tool?  Positive or negatives that come to mind?