NEW YORK — Famous for its whimsical look, Girlshop, one of the earliest online boutiques, is getting its first redesign since it launched in 1998. Company president Todd Richter said he hopes easier navigation will boost online sales, which dropped slightly last year following the opening of the company’s first offline store in the Meatpacking District.
The store is profitable, Richter said. Overall, Girlshop’s sales were up slightly last year over 2004, although Richter declined to give specific numbers. In 2004, revenues reached $4.7 million, up from $3.8 million the year before.
“We’re keeping the look and feel,” said founder Laura Eisman, a graphic designer who did the redesign and worked for Marie Claire and iVillage before starting Girlshop. The reorganized site launches today with dynamically changing menus that fit on one screen, so shoppers can click on designers or categories without having to return to the home page.
New features include Today’s Obsession, a key item that is highlighted on the right side of the home page and changes daily. Also new is the Gift Finder, which lets shoppers search for a gift by price or style, including mom, classic girl, girly girl, hipster and the girl who has everything.
Girlshop has gradually phased in other changes over the last few weeks, including pages on trends, photos of clothes shot on models rather than mannequins, photos that can be clicked and enlarged, back shots and previews of items that can be ordered in advance.
The site has always tried to set itself apart from its competition with hand-built pages of silhouetted merchandise, which give Girlshop a look like a magazine page. Other sites tend to present merchandise in identical squares arranged on a grid. That has not changed, said founder Laura Eisman, although because the site is now using models, many of the photos will no longer be silhouetted. Girlshop also has kept its iconic splash page with an illustration of a girl holding an animated handbag that rocks back and forth. “It’s old school, but I like it,” Eisman said.
The site is built on Microsoft Site Server and a database for inventory created by Richter. Girlshop’s Web programming is handled by Web developer Notsoldseparately of Maple Shade, N.J.
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Richter said the company hopes to sign a lease for a second store by the end of the year and to host more sample sales and shopping tours.