How is social media changing our shopping habits?

This week I read a brilliant article on the Nylon Magazine website about how social media is changing our shopping habits. Today's millennial's are not choosing to shop direct from brands and stores instead they're picking up on-trend, new and used items from their favourite Instagram influencers. By the means of marketplace app Depop. 

Nylon explain how it all works “The app’s users follow each other, message each other, and “like” each other’s items for sale in a feed not unlike Instagram’s layout. And, of course, like Instagram, the most influential users—from bloggers and vloggers to celebrities—are the ones racking in hundreds of thousands of likes, as well as sales”.

I was a member of Depop for a short while approximately a year ago, but it wasn't for me. I'm not really an eBay shopper either and to be honest online shopping has always proven difficult.

Depop has 5.5 million users and is an innovative way of selling. Social media is constantly influencing what we wear, either through style inspiration from those we follow or via the advertisements that have slowly appeared on our feed over the last year. 

However, there is pro’s and cons to this new shopping movement. Would buying pre owned goods from our Instagram influencers cost us our individual style? or does it promote re-selling second hand clothes instead of buying new ones? and what impacts might this have on retailers? 

I personally enjoy gaining style inspiration from those I follow on Instagram but I’m not on board with shopping that individual closets. Nylon explain this as “owning a part of their personal brand”, but I also think this means you are owning their individual style whether this be from an up-and-coming fashion brand or a piece of rare vintage. Fashion is about personalising your style and expressing who you are. Buying clothes from our Instagram followers could cause the younger generation to become clones of one another and imitate their style without finding their own. 

I do however think it is important to reuse our second hand clothes and not just dispose of them and this is something Depop promotes. The fast fashion movement of ‘buy in bulk’ is having lasting impacts on the environment and changes need to be made. The younger generation are enjoying shopping from their favourite bloggers and vloggers and this is without a doubt going to impact on high street retailers and brands.

Founder of Depop Simon Beckerman says “I see the future of retail being much more about connecting people together, rather than brands and companies.” From now on retailers will have to find new ways of engaging with customers to ensure sales remain positive. This may be done with brand-sponsored Instagram and Twitter content which builds synchronicity between retailers and social media.

Technology is constantly changing and this is forcing brands and retailers to evolve, if not they might find themselves falling behind in the fashion race. 

Nylon Article http://www.nylon.com/articles/simon-beckerman-depop-interview

Ph Credit aboutfitsdotcom.wordpress.com via Pinterest

NYLON Magazine - Natural Beauty

These beautiful photographs were quickly spotted whilst flicking through a copy of this months Nylon magazine in the university library, hence the poor image quality. I love how the camera has caught the models natural beauty.

Ph credit - Nylon, Nov/Dec

Four years later

This month marks 4 years of writing this blog and over the years, I've questioned many times why I'm writing it. Do people enjoy reading it? Are my topics relevant? Is it original? The latter being the most prominent.

At times I thought maybe I shouldn't bother anymore, but something (plus my very supportive boyfriend) has kept me writing.

There's so many blogs out there and its tough finding your niche. My aim has always been to try and create something a little different.

Over the years I’ve pondered the idea of trying to make money out of my blog with advertisements and promotion of products. I have been approached by a selection of brands, many I didn't care for so I opted out and to be honest I'm glad I did, there's nothing more irritating than getting half way through someone's post only to realise it's completely biased towards the company that is giving them free stuff. I didn't start a blog purely for it to be used as a tool to hawk other people’s crap - each to their own but to me, that cheapens content and falsifies opinion. Promoting freebies probably gets you more blog traffic and that's fine as long as products are being promoted with an honest opinion and readers know they are reading sponsored content.

Originally my blog was a place to document my ramblings about fashion. But more recently It's become a place to write about issues and topics that inspire me, whether that be about fashion, style, pop culture or something more serious.

In life we constantly compare ourselves to others mainly through life achievements and ownership but online there is so much more to compare your work to. Is my writing Honest? Interesting? Or is it a carbon copy of what someone else has written?

With so many other blogs out there i guess it's only natural to compare. I don't get the views and comments I'd like but I try and write about something different and maybe in the near future my ratings may improve. But to be truthful I've never wanted to become that typical blogger mainly because I don't fit to that stereotype. I'm a little older (29 to be exact) and I don't have the typical blogger look. I don't have a fortune to spend on luxurious holidays, I'm not super slim or have pristine make up and most of the time I look less than perfect but I've always wanted my blog to reflect reality. I'm a student, I can't afford to purchase new, on-trend clothes every week to discuss but I do continually think about what's new, interesting and inspiring to my readers.

I love to write and that's what will hopefully support this blog to make it to its fifth year. I'm not going to say everything I write interests everyone because it doesn't. The beauty of individuality is that we all have different opinions and interests. If just one post inspires you in a small way, then I feel I've done what I set out to do. 

Ph Credit Still, That Kind of Women on Bloglovin via Pinterest, edited using A Beautiful Mess app