Trend: Magazine Shopping

Japanese website Nekore transforms fashion magazines into catalogs.

Critics of Japan’s mainstream fashion magazines are quick to derail them as mere brand catalogs. Thanks to online shopping site, Nekore, they literally can be. Nekore users can simply enter the magazine title, page number, and placement of the item in demand and the Nekore staff will track it down and, if available, ship it straight to your home.

Nekore, also available for mobile phone use, covers over 40 women’s fashion magazines, from the OL bible CanCam to the fashionista favorite Vogue Nippon, and 17 men’s fashion magazines.

Popular and recommended items are posted on the site’s blog. The service is run by the Yamato Holdings, owners of the extensive Kuro Neko (black cat) delivery and messenger service, meaning Nekore can take advantage of this established channel for delivery.

Considering the popularity of both fashion magazines and online shopping among busy fashion plates and would be ones in rural areas, Nekore has hit upon a pretty clever combination of the two. The main drawback is the steep mark-up of at least ¥3,800 per order, though as the saying goes, time is money and for Japan’s growing number of busy “career girls” a site like Nekore is a boon.

The general popularity of online shopping in Japan means that a number of innovative websites and services have been popping up lately in the retail sector, making it an exciting field to monitor.

Thanks to Asiajin.com for tipping us off to this site.

For the original post and the latest in other Japanese trends please visit our CScout Japan blog.

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