Stylish designs that aim to make online gift-buying as fun as "walking around a concept store"

Back in the dark ages of internet shopping, there were still shops that decided to name themselves things like buyyourkitchen.com, but offline. Hell, there were even offers called things like webuyanycar.com.

But the world of shopping online has come a long way since then. Sophisticated sites that offer “curation” now seem to be as common as those who bombard your screen with a million thumbnails and a lot of ugly red text. So what’s the next step for the more discerning online shopper? Anekdote reckons it’s got the answer, and it’s about taking this “curation” to a more nuanced level – one where products are celebrated and you can learn the stories behind them, not just seeing a few grainy images and a lot of info about functional things like price and shipping.

Anekdote is a relatively young site that functions as much like a beautiful gift magazine as a store. It chooses products to sell by themes, offering new collections each quarter where choice is limited, and so (the theory goes) quality and selection is maximised. The brand was founded by a small team helmed by Vincent , with all the site design and branding created in-house. Design is very much at the forefront of the offer. “We don’t want to just be seen as people who curate something, we want to be seen as a site with a great user experience that goes a little more in-depth,” says Vincent. “We have a different colour for each volume [of products], so while users will recognise the design the colour shows that it’s something new.”

The site was born out of the founders’ frustrations with online stores that don’t do the products they sell justice. “Most just have tiny product shots and 150 word descriptions,” says Vincent. “For us the curation is more of a tool that lets the online store reflect what the brand really is about.”

This dedication to showcasing only the most carefully chosen products and in the very best light possible means that the selection process is a lengthy one, beginning three months in advance of the launch of each volume. Around 60 different brands are shortlisted for each product, samples are called in, and these are whittle down to 20, until they make the final cut (or not) as one of around 16 pieces in each collection.

While many of these are design led pieces – if not strictly design objects, then certainly ones that are beautifully designed – it’s vital that they function superbly too.“We had an oil in a beautiful package recently but we were afraid it might just be normal oil underneath that. We tried it though, and it was great,” says Vincent. “We really want to do stuff right.”

“We want to make a site where people will enjoy spending time in as much as they would enjoy walking around a concept store.”

Check out a new volume of gifts and products from the concept store here.