Here’s where things are recognizable: Suddenlee offers a browser add-on that works as a bookmarklet for items people want to buy, similar to websites like Kaboodle, ThisNext or Fashiolista. After that you get to the meat of the business model, and where things get different. If you’re bookmarking with the intent to purchase (as opposed to just sharing favorites), you can choose size and color options, put items from multiple sites/retailers into one shopping cart and check out on Suddenlee. They take the order and send shoppers out to buy the items in brick and mortar stores, combine items for a service fee (based on the size of the order and the number of stores) and ship all of the items overnight in a single box. The fee starts at $10 and includes shipping.

The service is regional and is only available to shoppers in the Northeast; but Suddenlee’s definition of Northeast is fairly broad and includes destinations as far south as Richmond, VA and as far west as Pittsburgh, PA, in addition to traditional Northeast cities like Boston. We’re assuming more cities/hubs will be added as Suddenlee tests the model.

While the multiple stores, one box offer is appealing (not to mention not having to wait 5-10 days for standard shipping) there are a few problems that we’re not sure if Suddenlee has figured out.

The biggest is returns and exchanges. Online return rates are notoriously high, particularly for shoes and clothing. Multiple, detailed images and reviews help, but most people aren’t sure about how an item will look until they have it on in front of a mirror. So what happens when someone returns an item that was just a little too tight, or not exactly the color they had in mind, etc.? Obviously Suddenlee will be able to refund the purchase price, but it will be difficult to create a unified return policy that covers every merchant. Some stores give customers up to 90 days to return items, while smaller boutiques can sometimes have return windows as short as 3 days, or no returns at all – for some time BCBG only allowed exchanges.

Speaking of exchanges, there are also those and item availability. If the dress you love is too small but you want to take a chance on another size, what happens if a larger size isn’t available in any stores? A good number of retailers have pushed shoppers online specifically to handle demand for options not available in stores. Not every Banana Republic store offers  women’s clothing in tall sizes, but they’re consistently – and sometimes exclusively offered online. Sale merchandise often moves through various store locations as well, so what’s available online may be sold out in physical stores (and vice versa).

Finally, what about the stores that have limited or no e-commerce? It’s been rumored that a US H&M site will emerge soon, but that hasn’t been confirmed. Zara is another brand with Northeast stores that’s late to the e-commerce party. Better integration of store inventory with online inventory would certainly benefit shoppers and retailers. Nordstrom did just that and saw a sales boost as a result. Suddenlee has a good idea, and it’s definitely one that can ultimately save a shopper in time and online shipping costs.

To make it a great idea (and likely, more profitable one as well) would mean focusing on developing tools for merchants and businesses in addition to shoppers – perhaps even instead of. If Suddenlee were directly integrated with retailers’ inventory systems they could fill in some of the holes that come with not knowing exactly how many items are available in specific stores or warehouses in advance of an order. That means better planning for exchanges in their one-box service, and help for retailers to better respond to demand for certain items.

Logistics isn’t the sexiest topic in e-commerce, but it’s also one area that large and small retailers alike struggle with. GSI Commerce, the company recently acquired by eBay for $2.4 billion built the bulk of their business on handling logistics and fulfillment headaches for companies, so there’s certainly a sizable market for Suddenlee to disrupt if they can strike the right balance.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Australia’s boutiques are suffering with clothing and footwear sales down 4.8% in 2010.

“In the latest twist, retailers have resorted to charging try-on fees in store, which are refunded upon purchase, to stop consumers heading online to search for the same item at a lower price.”

Is anyone there? They probably decided to skip the try-on toll and shop online.

The Sydney Morning Herald article quotes two retailers who are trying various tactics to entice shoppers to their stores, but it’s not clear if one or both are experimenting with the try on fee. Regardless of if one, both, or some unattributed retailer is the one behind the idea, it sounds like a case of cutting off the nose to spite the face.

While the internet can compete on price, one of the few features that it can’t compete with brick and mortar stores on is actually being able to try on clothes. Good photography, detailed clothing measurements and reviews from other customers can all help someone get an idea of fit, but it’s not the same as being able to actually put a garment on and spin around in it, or slipping on a pair of shoes to know if you’ll need them half a size smaller or larger.

So far, the most detailed example of this practice comes from ski boot retailers who charge a $50 AUD fitting fee for trying on ski boots, which is refundable if a customer actually purchases a pair of boots. {The Australian} Retailers say the fee is in response to an Australian tax structure that allows non-Australian websites to sell items to customers without the same taxes and import duties brick and mortar retailers have to include in their prices.

So instead of playing up the fact that in store shopping gives customers a better opportunity to assess fit and comfort, the retail response is to charge users more for the privilege? Because they’re afraid the internet is beating them on price?

The jokes write themselves, and on this one we’re pretty sure retailers who go with the try-on toll won’t be the ones laughing.

Alexander McQueen Moves Forward

Goodbye Mr. McQueen, hello Ms. Burton. Long live McQueen.

Style.com covered the passing of Alexander McQueen and the showing of the final collection he designed, but something that was equally important this year was the success of Sarah Burtonâ€s first show as the new designer for the McQueen label. The passing of such a genius creative mind was indeed tragic, and the showing of McQueenâ€s last collection was a special moment, but Burtonâ€s signal that the brand can honor McQueenâ€s legacy while moving forward was absolutely stellar.

John Gallianoâ€s Dior Couture Wows

Dior haute couture was in full bloom this year when John Galliano showed his Spring 2011 collection of flower-inspired looks. The imagery and execution of the designs combined with the high, tulip-like hair of the models for a full package display of gorgeousness and perhaps our favorite moment in fashion of 2010.

The Seattle online retailer announced plans to relaunch their online clothing and shoe business with a focus on the high end market.  Amazon already owns Shopbop, which carries hot, mid-range designer labels like Elizabeth and James, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Diane von Furstenberg, Alexander Wang, and KORS by Michael Kors among others. Recently acquired Zappos, which started by selling shoes online (see our picks for on trend Zappos shoes under $100), also carries clothing now – specifically, some of the same secondary designer lines.

You may remember from our infographic of where the wealthy shop online, that Zappos reaches more  shoppers in the $100,000/year household income category than sites for Neiman Marcus or Saks Fifth Avenue combined.

While it’s difficult to break out traffic to the apparel section of Amazon’s site specifically, Scot Wingo of ChannelAdvisor, a company that helps 3rd party sellers on Amazon and eBay, estimates clothing, shoe and accessory sales at Amazon.com to be anywhere from one-third to one-fourth of Amazon’s total $24.5 billion in sales. {Financial Times} There’s no word on if that includes sales from Endless.com, the separately branded shoe and handbag store the company launched in 2007.

The move comes after eBay revamped their fashion offerings to better compete with member sale sites like Gilt and Rue La La. eBay fashion now includes sample sales, a capsule collection from Narcisco Rodriguez similar to the type of pairing that H&M and Target have made popular, and a sleek new wrapper on the site to house it all.

With a focus on the holiday season, Amazon will use the data they’ve gathered up until October to enhance the user experience from selection to close of sale. Lest anyone underestimate the significance of this, Amazon’s tracking and testing of things as small as the color of buttons, or 3 or 4 words of text on a page, are part of what’s contributed to a 12.8% conversion rate, while industry norms are around 4.9% (and 2-3% isn’t unheard of as a normal rate of people who purchase, compared to people who visit). {ClickZ}

And it’s all of those things that should shake fashion technophobes, who are still indecisive about a serious commitment to online retail. While  companies like Zara and H&M are tepid in their response to the growing necessity of online shopping, at least they’ve started. They may also be prime candidates to partner with Amazon – for years, Amazon handled Target’s online operations, so suffice it to say they know a thing or two about handling large amounts of rapidly moving inventory.

No, the people who should really be afraid are the labels which will wait so long to get into e-commerce, or respond to the trends within it that are emerging, that re-capturing the attention of shoppers who’ve stopped checking back to see if they’ve joined the 21st century will be even more costly and require more effort than if they’d bitten the bullet and just done something. While the Net-a-Porters and Gilts of the world are pushing the online shopping experience to mobile devices and beyond, they’ll still be playing catch up for pushing splash pages and clunky flash intros.

Offline retail will never die, but consumers have decided that the experience they want isn’t always in a store. To the retailers and brands still weighing their online options: when companies that have built their billions catering to that shift decide to focus on your customer, you don’t have long to decide.