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Custom E-Commerce And The Digital Girl

It’s such an exciting time to be in custom e-commerce. We’ve seen so many unique, creative sites launch over the past year and the buzz around customization only continues to grow.

FashionPlaytes.com is the first e-commerce company to create a customized online shopping experience specifically for the digital girl, a new generation of consumer who has very different expectations when it comes to engaging with a brand online. While customization is central to our business, our focus is on empowering girls and encouraging their creativity and self-expression.
Bringing Virtual Goods to Life

Girls today have grown up online. They are part of the first generation to take the online world completely for granted and technology is their second language. They’re naturals at finding the information they need quickly and they expect instant access to cool products and the latest news. Digital girls love designing avatars and spend hours putting together outfits on virtual gaming sites, such as Stardoll. One study by KidzEyes.com found that 92% of kids ages 6-14 spend time playing games online. They view their online personas as extensions of themselves and transition seamlessly from one world to the other.

Custom e-commerce for this demographic is a huge market opportunity and we have only begun to scratch the surface. Digital natives have $43 billion in spending power and studies have shown that their largest spending categories are video games and apparel. There is a major opportunity here to bridge the gap between the online and offline world and help girls translate their vision into reality. These girls are media savvy; they are seeking interactive online experiences and it’s all about engaging and involving them through interactivity.

At FashionPlaytes we do just that. Their online experience is brought to life—girls can design one-of-a-kind outfits that are produced and shipped to their doorstep. We have over 5 million design combinations, and moms and girls love that it’s a fun, creative and safe outlet for self-expression. There is a growing demand for safe sites and wholesome products that girls love, but that also earn the approval of moms. Tweens are testing the boundaries of independence and FashionPlaytes helps them achieve control within parent-approved limits.
Empowering Girls to be Active Participants

We have a fast-growing and active community of assertive, empowered, and stylish girls who are creating a new paradigm for social shopping. Digital girls expect to have a voice and love being active participants in the creation of their clothes. When they come to our site they immediately get it—they are a natural fit for custom e-commerce. FashionPlaytes is a place where reality and fantasy merge, and that is so appealing to tweens.

We have begun taking this even further by “kid sourcing” new products. We tap into our Fashion Advisory Board (aka FAB, our panel of youth advisors) for real time information on what girls want, allowing them to weigh in on the products we add to our line, the colors they want to wear, and more. By giving girls a voice, we ensure that we are creating products they will be proud to wear. We believe custom e-commerce is about more than offering a lot of choices—it’s about encouraging self-expression by developing and producing exactly what girls want.
Integrating Social Gaming & Growing Our Community

We have big plans for the future. While we are working hard to continue building out FashionPlaytes as a fashion destination for girls, we’re also working behind the scenes on developing a social gaming community for girls ages 5-12. Much of this has been customer driven—our FAB girls love the play aspects of the site and have been pushing for more gaming elements. We’ll soon be able to engage girls with avatar play, and more, as we roll out our gaming initiative over the coming year.

Everything we do is driven by the digital girl—she is the core of our business and as we grow and the site evolves we’ll be continuously monitoring her response and making sure FashionPlaytes.com maintains its girl appeal. Ultimately, our goal is to give girls an outlet for creative self-expression in all aspects of their lives. We are building FashionPlaytes to be an engaging community where digital girls are empowered to express their creativity, thoughts, and ideas through custom fashion, gaming, social interaction, and more. Custom e-commerce truly resonates with the digital girl and we cannot wait to see where she leads us!