‘Haul queens’ shop to get rich

Posted by benjieboo on February 7, 2011 None comments

At 16, Blair Fowler is living the American dream. She has dropped out of school so she can spend more time shopping, showing off her finds on the internet and earning a fortune for doing it. The brunette from north-west Tennessee is a “haul queen,” the most influential trend-setter in a new phenomenon where young women upload home-made videos showing their “haul” from their trips to the mall. .

There are already more than 100,000 haul videos on YouTube. Last week new ones were being uploaded every 12 minutes. Fowler is a pioneer. Her videos in which she and her older sister, Elle, shriek with joy and giggle as they unpack bags filled with blouses, jeans and lip-gloss have been viewed 75m times on YouTube. Fowler, who is in Los Angeles this weekend “shopping for glory”, is creating a family media business: a make-up tutorial by her five-year-old sister Hannah, shot at home with her two big sisters as directors, has already attracted 1.4m hits.

Last week the teenage tycoon, famous for her ability to deliver a high-pitched 10-minute lecture on the merits of skinny versus lowriding jeans, apparently without drawing breath, was not available to talk to adults. She has told teernage magazines that she began sharing her shopping trips on the net because “it was fun.”

Read the rest here

Thrill of the Haul

Posted by benjieboo on November 23, 2010 None comments

Somewhere in America’s suburbs, 16-year-old Blair sits in her pink-walled bedroom and shows off a slew of recent purchases from the fast-fashion chain Forever 21. She bought a black blouse, a slouchy cardigan, and $6.99 jeans. “OK, so normally it would bother me if my jeans didn’t have any detail on the rear end,” Blair says. “But I was actually reading and they say that if there is not any design on the back pocket on your jeans … somehow it makes your butt look smaller. So way to go for these jeans!” I know this because Blair (aka Juicystar07) taped it via webcam and posted it to YouTube. She’s not just posting it for her clique at school—her video has nearly 600,000 views to date.

shopping haul - slate

shopping haul - slate

Read the rest of the article <a href=”http://www.slate.com/id/2248295/” title=”Shopping Haul – Slate”>here</a>

London Shopping

Posted by benjieboo on November 1, 2010 None comments

As promised, here’s the haul that I returned with from London. Not all of it is mine as some are for friends.

Thanks to the weak pound, shopping in London has become much more affordable than it used to be. I picked up Season 2 of Dollhouse at £19.90 and the Black Adder DVD set for my husband for just £25. Several UK magazines also had fabulous freebies like Elle which came with a mini Clinique Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss 09 Currant; Red which came with a Neal’s Yard Nourishing Orange Flower Daily Moisture and Marie Claire which came with a full size Ciate Paint Pots in Dangerous Affair.

View the rest here

Shopping porn?!

Posted by benjieboo on October 6, 2010 None comments

http://kdaf.vid.trb.com/player/PaperVideoTest.swf

” It’s huge. There are thousands of videos out there on YouTube and people are watching. One girl had an eight minute video about four pairs of shoes, a headband, and purse that she bought and it’s had over a 120 thousand views,” said Square One Ad Agency Marian Leonard.

Duclottni uploads her videos to her YouTube page House of Haute. She says people watch everyday. They ask her to ID knock offs, ask questions about trends and price points.

” They want the truth. They want real reviews. They want it to come out of a real person’s mouth,” said Duclottni.
Ad exec, Marian Leonard, says the new age of a digitally enabled shopper has really changed the game.
” Brands really need to embrace this, because a personal endorsement like that is ten times more valuable than any paid advertisement you could have,” said Duclottni.
Duclottni says making the videos gives her a high and she hope’s it turns her viewers on.
” You’re on there and you’re fantasizing about all of these garments, and shoes, and handbags and it’s orgasmic,” she said.

Read more here

Related Articles

The Latest Trend In Shopping: Have You Heard Of "Haul Videos"?

Posted by benjieboo on September 15, 2010 1 comments

The Latest Trend In Shopping: Have You Heard Of “Haul Videos”

The best part of shopping–a close second behind the hard-earned Mrs. Fields cookie at the end of a long spending spree–is getting everything home to dig through the bags and try it all on again and show it off to your friends and roommates, right? That’s kind of the idea behind YouTube’s latest phenomenon, known as the “Haul Video.”

Shopping Haul on Glamour.com

Shopping Haul on Glamour.com

Haul videos basically go something like this: A young girl sits in her bedroom and shows off her recent purchases from the local mall. That’s it. Just a teenager, a webcam, and a bag full of Forever 21 goodies that she can’t wait to share with her fans. What fans, you ask? Who would want to tune in to ten straight minutes of “materialistic PG porn,” as NPR recently called it? Lots of people, it turns out. One of YouTube’s most popular haul videos has more than 578,000 views, and there are loads more with equally robust fan bases. I confess, after spending the afternoon doing some research by watching them, I find them oddly entertaining (maybe that’s just the voyeur in me–I used to love trick-or-treating because you got to peek into people’s houses!). Check out a few popular haul videos now:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWmXcWyiXnQ&feature=player_embedded]

Read more here

Haul Videos Going Viral During Back to School Season

Posted by benjieboo on September 14, 2010 None comments

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KCBS) – Back to school shopping season is still in full swing, with retailers pulling out all the stops to get consumers into their stores.

Young shoppers appear to be giving some brands a boost with a relatively new phenomenon – filming and posting “haul videos” online.

It’s a fairly simple system: a teenage shopper returns from an outing with new clothes, accessories or makeup, videotapes his or her “haul” and posts the video online.

“They’ve kind of reached fever pitch lately,” commented Kit Yarrow, a professor of psychology and marketing at San Francisco’s Golden Gate University. “The reason it’s successful is because it’s not the manufacturer or the retailer saying this is a great product, it’s an actual user saying this is a great product. And the really successful gals that do this, they have a large following base and they’re trusted.”

So trusted, in fact, that some of the nation’s top retailers are taking notice and giving some of the most-watched haul video posters stipends to purchase items in their stores, hoping they will provide positive reviews of their products online.

“Retailers in general and manufacturers are trying to get close to and connected to consumers, they’re using social media of all kinds,” Yarrow offered. “It just makes sense and it’s predictable that they would want to use this vehicle as well.”

Thrill of the Haul

Posted by benjieboo on September 14, 2010 None comments

The secret joy of displaying your shopping sprees on YouTube.

Another great article about shopping hauling and how it is taking over the internet. Be sure that this will take everyone by surprise!

Somewhere in America’s suburbs, 16-year-old Blair sits in her pink-walled bedroom and shows off a slew of recent purchases from the fast-fashion chain Forever 21. She bought a black blouse, a slouchy cardigan, and $6.99 jeans. “OK, so normally it would bother me if my jeans didn’t have any detail on the rear end,” Blair says. “But I was actually reading and they say that if there is not any design on the back pocket on your jeans … somehow it makes your butt look smaller…

Read more here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo2i1xqlwv0]

Girls Gone Viral: Online Fame From Shopping

Posted by benjieboo on September 14, 2010 None comments

The first thing every tween or teen does right after getting home from the mall is show off her shopping spree. But now, girls are doing more than bragging about their fashion finds to their best friends.

Girls show off mall purchases online, becoming Web stars and gaining sponsors.

A new phenomenon called “haul videos” means they can show off their purchases to the whole world. There are more than 110,000 haul videos currently on YouTube, and some videos are racking up tens of millions of views.

Hauls are short product review videos. The “vlogger,” or video blogger, shows off her goods, gushing about everything from lip gloss to flip-flops and gives her opinion on the quality of the products.

“Haul videos are the perfect marriage of two of Generation Y’s favorite things: technology and shopping,” says Kit Yarrow, a consumer psychologist. “It’s a vicarious pleasure. You don’t have to spend the money and you still get the thrill; it’s a bit like pornography.”

Read the rest of the article here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=673RZbWg6Ek]