The internet has become a sprawling hub of images often featuring desirable content – but no place to buy it. California-based start-up The Hunt has set out to tackle the problem by providing a new and interactive online shopping experience.

The Fancy is a feed of desirable products bubbled up from a community of taste-makers. A new breed of retailer, the site allows products to become encoded with social value, yet keeps a clear focus on consumption rather than conversation.

The social shopping trend is continuing apace, and its effects are being felt in the world of online fashion retail. One of the industry's most high-profile experiments so far is Motilo, winner of The Guardian's Digital Innovation Award.

For online retailers, engaging with customers has never been harder, or more important. Enter 'crowdsourcing': the mid-noughties marketing buzz word, which, when innovatively applied, can still prove a powerful relationship-building tool.