Smashing Darling Blog

I was so excited about announcing our latest and greatest feature, FEEDBACK. I Left out one very cool element! When you leave feedback for a designer, if you have already purchased what you so covet from this designer on Smashing Darling, you have the power and the tools needed to show the world. We’ve made it sooooooooooooooooooooo easy too. It is as simple as unchecking a box. OMG, it IS unchecking a box. The whole world will get a glimpse as to why you love this designer so much. Now go find your favorite designer on Smashing Darling and leave them some feedback.

Don’t you just love these close up shots! I mean, you feel like you can reach right out and feel what these things are made of!

I feel like I couldn’t even see this much detail in person! Doesn’t it just make you want to go out and buy these!

great photo for seeing detail from Mandala Jewels

and holy moly, you can see every texture in these earrings by Cynthia Jones!

and

Love the scale shown on the model!

All of Cynthia’s photos make it easy to purchase from her online and know what you are getting!

These jewelry designers have got it goin’ on with regards to the issue of up close and personal.

Check out this photo by Dina Varano

YUM! I just want to take a bite of that turquoise!

Who could resist buying that! Talk about the perfect color nugget hanging against perfectly tan skin!

Totally sexy!

Silver, turq, tan, and sand! Yeah baby!

Sorry, but I have to pimp my own brand here,

and I do have to say, close up shots lead to better sales! I was told I am on of the top selling stores on Smashing Darling!

I think women love that they can see the weave of my fabrics!

I have to say that the close ups are my favorites too from any designer because I really feel like there is no barrier between me and the product!

Check out the fabric close ups from MerGirl

You can actually see the sheerness of the fabric!

and in this one you can see the hairs coming right off the mohair, I feel one in my eye just from looking at it!

It is so simple too, If I can achieve this with my Nikon Coolpix anyone can.

I put it on the Macro setting and off I go!

Just had to add that, I know all the shopping fans want to know all of the top secret tricks!

Happy shopping!

Smashing Darling was built by a designer, for other designers. We truly built this community around the needs and wants of an independent clothing designer.

Hopefully, with a little help we can get you out there selling your stuff so that it’s the most useful to you and what you have going on. Here are just a few ways that we have found the site extremely useful to our designers.

You can integrate your own personal marketing with your Smashing Darling store by:

• Link items in your own newsletters, blog mentions, print advertisements, etc. to your store in Smashing Darling, so that people are only a couple of clicks away from buying what you are showing them as new products

• Use Smashing Darling as an extension of your own site - if you don’t have commerce on your own site take advantage of the fact that you can link straight to your store from images on your site, or send people straight to your store from your buy here section on your own website…that way you can get them while they are hot!

• Feel free to put your smashing darling store address on your existing signage , business cards (or if you want to use the Smashing Darling business cards we created for you to use, just email us at trishandjulie@smashingdarling.com), etc. If you don’t have regular business hours, but have a good amount of pieces in your store…stick a sign up saying check out my smashing darling store…so even when you aren’t working, your customers could still be buying 24/7!

• Use the invite feature to let your customer base get updates the second you upload new pieces. That way your company and products are always on their minds. You can even upload one thing a week and have weekly reminders to your customers that they need to stop by and get the newest pieces.

It’s all about connecting the dots!

Be SMASHING,

Trish and Julie

Smashing Darling has several people on the site, not going to mention any names, who may not be using the site to it’s full potential. So, I thought I’d take a second to give a tip on how designers can make more of what Smashing Darling can offer them.

Smashing Darling has designers who have incredible lines, but for some reason, a tiny few, only show a fraction of their line when they open a store on the site. This hurts everyone! The consumer likes to see variety and a whole range of design abilities, not just part of their collection. If you went to a store with one item, would you buy it? Most likely not. What if you went to that same store and it had a whole range of products? What are the odds that you would find something you like? Pretty good if you like their style. We know our designers are awesome, we just want the whole world to know it as well!

Let’s take someone on the site as an example: Yosifa Penina…she truly gets it! She uses her store on Smashing Darling as not only a retail outlet for her products, but she literally sticks it all out there for you to see (with great details shots to boot). At the time of this blog she has 77 items in her store. She can send anyone at any time of the day to see all of her products, and they can buy from her 24/7. She doesn’t necessarily have to print a catalog if she doesn’t want to, because it’s all in her store. If Jules gets new product today, her customer can not only see it today, but buy it as well. Plus, by putting all of her products up, the consumer looking for what she sells will have the best possible choices and most likely will buy from her. You can literally use Smashing Darling as your online catalog…for FREE. Plus, wouldn’t we all like to have greener options available so we aren’t using as much paper, if we so choose?

Yosifa Penina’s detail shots…

up close and personal!

Invite, INVITE , INVITE! This is absolutely fabulous or should I say SMaaashing, our invite and subscribe feature is now live! Isn’t it just slap you in the arm, bang on your chest holy crap kinda good. What are you waiting for go invite your peeps or subscribe to your faves! With this feature, if you can convince your posse to subscribe to you, they will receive daily or weekly updates about all the new and fascinating, can’t live without things you upload. Does YOUR current website do that for you! It’s all about marketing baby and we are trying to make it as easy as possible for you to pimp your brand, & for YOU, our favorite fashionista’s, we are trying to put the latest in front of you so you have first dibs. So fly be free start inviting and start subscribing!

Designers, it’s all about the power of suggestion, so go into your account click on INVITE CONTACTS and GO INVITE!

Gotta have it first fashion fans or just need to know users, go into your favorite stores on Smashing Darling and in the upper right corner choose subscribe and your life will never be the same!

Always shop indie! and as Jennifer from Pantyline Productions likes to put it “Saving the world through panties”

TTFN
Edina