Boticca.com Turns its Customers into Fashion Models via Instagram

LONDON, May 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Boticca.com, the London-based global jewelry and accessories boutique, has partnered with US start-up Olapic to push social commerce further and showcase users' Instagram photos and regular photography into the Gallery: a new feature launching on the website today.

Boticca currently works extensively with fashion bloggers and has a strong social media presence with almost 35,000 Twitter followers, more than 50,000 Facebook fans, 50,000 Pinterest followers, 3,000 Tumblr followers and close to 2,000 Instagram followers. Boticca co-founders Avid Larizadeh and Kiyan Foroughi decided to launch the Gallery feature, having noticed the influence of "street style" on a large portion of sales on the website.

Avid Larizadeh says, "We were keen to harness the power of street style which we had seen with bloggers, who, as everyday people with great style, are a fantastic shopping inspiration to customers. Understandably, customers are now wary of brand imagery due to the much-publicized issue of image manipulation and magazine editorial, with its huge budgets and tiny models, feels unrealistic and detached from reality. Shoppers are disillusioned by the imagery presented by the fashion industry and crying out for something real. This is what the Boticca Gallery feature is about: real people wearing our products, transporting the aspirational dream of these beautiful pieces into reality, and showing how great they look in everyday life."

The Gallery already features almost 200 photographs of pieces available to buy from Boticca.com, taken by customers and designers and posted on Instagram using the hashtag #Boticca. A link to the Gallery appears on the Boticca.com homepage, alongside "The Edit", a selection of photographs curated by Boticca's visual merchandisers. The photographs in the Gallery can then be added to product pages alongside the standard brand photography, to show shoppers the different ways that real people have worn and styled the products.

The social element of the feature adds to the existing sense of community which has flourished since the website launched in October 2010. Boticca.com's 340 internationally-based designers are already able to connect directly with customers all over the world, and vice versa, through the marketplace. This new tool will allow designers and customers to take this a step further, to swap photographs and styling ideas via Instagram and the Boticca.com website and to feel a sense of community within the brand.

Users will be encouraged to utilise this new feature through messaging on the site and after purchase, and as well as via a series of marketing initiatives. These will include a competition featuring the Gallery user with the most 'likes' in an editorial spread in Boticca's online Magazine and gifting him or her with £100 to spend on the site.

About Boticca.com - Boticca.com is the largest online accessories and jewelry boutique for men and women in the world, with more than 340 independent designers and emerging brands from 40 countries and over 10,000 pieces in bags, scarves, ties, leather goods, hats and jewelry available to buy. Boticca creates a unique experience of discovery and connects an international customer base directly with craftsmen and design talent from all over the world.

The website was launched in London in October 2010 by Avid Larizadeh and Kiyan Foroughi. Every week, between two to four new accessories designers and brands are handpicked and launched by the globetrotting Boticca "Stylehunters". They curate and edit the marketplace to illustrate the culture, stories, craft and inspiration behind each of the collections on the site. Customers will find unique pieces from the four corners of the world. All of the designers and brands ship worldwide to serve Boticca's international customer base (1/3 of customers come from the US, 1/3 from Europe, and the remaining 1/3 from the rest of world, mainly Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Middle East).

A-list celebrities all over the world have been spotted wearing beautiful pieces by Boticca designers: from Hollywood stars Cameron Diaz, Julia Roberts and Emma Stone, to cool New Yorkers like Leighton Meester and Olivia Palermo, to Pippa Middleton and the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Moss and Florence Welch in London, further highlighting the independent designers' work.

About Olapic - Founded in 2010, Olapic helps enhance the flat and limited e-commerce experience by integrating and utilizing the readily available visual user generated content. By enabling any site to collect, curate, and display consumer photos, Olapic leverages real customers to build brands' communities and drive sales. Already the facilitating technology behind some of the most innovative retailers and brands in the world, including Lululemon, Baublebar, Nasty Gal, Coach, New Balance, Teva, Guess, Reef, Steve Madden, and Threadless, Olapic strives to help companies of all kinds increase sales and improve customer retention by opening up new forms of visual communication between the brand and customer. Boticca.com and StylistPick are the first fashion brands to partner with Olapic in the UK.

For further information please contact Josi Smart, PR Director, josi@boticca.com, +44-208-133-6501