Fashion and lifestyle: Turning community inspiration into confident shopping

This year, one of the biggest challenges for the fashion industry was helping shoppers stay inspired when they reached the website. With more consumers arriving in discovery mode, the brands that won were those who made their sites feel as scrollable and inspiring as social.

Hobbs, Dr. Martens, Primark and Barbour all introduced new visual journeys that blend UGC, brand stories and dynamic styling content.

• Hobbs added a scrollable 4:5 gallery that mirrors how their audience browses collections on social, showing outfits in context and helping shoppers imagine them in real life.
• Dr. Martens rolled out community-led galleries across eleven markets, celebrating individuality and giving customers styling inspiration right where they need it most.
• Primark expanded its global #Primania gallery, with AI helping to tag thousands of products behind the scenes so discovery stays fresh across seven markets.
• Barbour launched a suite of social-first experiences, from Barbour Dogs to lifestyle moments, creating warm and familiar shopping journeys that reflect the brand’s community spirit.

Across these brands, the pattern is clear: when shoppers can see themselves in the products being sold, choosing becomes easier, faster and much more enjoyable, leading to lower bounce rates and higher dwell time as they continue exploring.

Beauty and care: Story-driven discovery that builds trust

Beauty and wellness are categories built on trust. Shoppers want to see products used by real people, not just polished campaigns. The challenge these brands faced was creating journeys that feel personal at scale and convert.

IPSY and Tommee Tippee both turned to storytelling to solve this.

• IPSY transformed its homepage into a creator-powered discovery space, where shoppers can land on a look, a routine or a tip and shop those products directly.
• Tommee Tippee used Content Briefs to collect heartfelt stories from parents for their 60th anniversary, turning everyday moments into an on-site experience full of warmth and reassurance, in the Tommee Tippee brand.

Both brands show how authentic voices build confidence, especially in categories where emotion and care run deep.

Retail: Scaling social proof across every touchpoint

For large retailers, the challenge isn’t inspiration. It is consistency. With thousands of products, dozens of categories and millions of visitors, keeping discovery relevant across every page is an enormous task.

Argos and schuh took bold steps to bring real customer content into their shopping journeys at scale.

• Argos used StoryStream’s API to power more than 500 product pages with rights-approved UGC, replacing a patchwork of separate plugins with a unified, native experience that feels effortless to shop.
• schuh launched a dynamic, video-powered inspiration hub and refreshed their homepage and PDPs to feel instantly more social, supported by AI that keeps content fresh without the manual strain.

The result for both brands is the same. When shoppers get inspiration from real people on how to style or place products, they add more items to their basket, which helps lift conversion rates as they feel more secure in their choices.

Automotive: High engagement through high authenticity

The rise of social inspiration and AI has also impacted auto shoppers. They want visuals, community, honest reviews and real stories. Static, specification-heavy pages no longer give them what social discovery does so well: emotion, aspiration and proof from people like them.

Škoda and Volkswagen UK leaned into this shift with community-driven content.

• Škoda launched Stories, interactive hubs and UGC-led campaigns that helped reduce bounce rates and increased dwell time across key journeys.
• Volkswagen UK collected 920 customer stories in seven days, building an impressive community content library and proving how quickly authentic storytelling can scale when the brief is simple.

These experiences make the digital showroom feel human, experiential and connected to real drivers, keeping visitors engaged for longer and guiding them more confidently towards conversion.

What these brands have in common

Across every industry, the pattern is the same. When brands honour the way people actually discover products today, shoppers stay longer, explore more and buy with confidence.

These customer wins remind us that the future of eCommerce is faster and more efficient but also that it is more human, more visual and more connected to real people. Brands that bring this to life consistently see lower bounce rates, higher dwell time, and stronger conversion and AOV.

Want to build a discovery experience that inspires and converts customers who land on your site? Get in touch with the StoryStream team.