WHERE WE SHOP: ONLINE
Discovering New Places to Spend, Support + Shop
Shopping online has become second nature. We know where to go, we know what to type into the search bar, and often, we know exactly what will arrive at our door before we ever hit “purchase.” Convenience has transformed the way we shop, but it can also mean that we repeatedly visit the same familiar destinations. At THIS IS IT NETWORK™, we believe there is value in occasionally looking beyond what we already know and discovering new places, new products, and new businesses worthy of our attention.
Welcome to WHERE WE SHOP: ONLINE, our ongoing exploration of interesting places for our community of remarkable women to browse, discover, support, and shop. This isn’t about abandoning the retailers we already use or telling anyone where they should spend their money. It is simply about expanding our options. There are incredible independent brands, emerging makers, thoughtful marketplaces, and innovative retailers available with the click of a button. Sometimes we just need someone to introduce us.
And introductions are what we do best.
Where we shop matters because our purchasing decisions have influence. Every time we discover a new business, recommend a product to a friend, share a founder’s story, or become a repeat customer, we participate in that company’s growth. For women who lead households, businesses, teams, and communities, purchasing power can also become discovery power — the ability to introduce deserving businesses to entirely new audiences.
Here are five online shopping destinations currently on our radar.
LITTLE BLUE MARKET: SHOP SMALL + DISCOVER SOMETHING NEW
If you enjoy discovering small businesses but don’t always know where to find them, Little Blue Market provides an interesting place to begin. The marketplace features products from vetted, values-aligned small businesses and is part of the larger Little Blue ecosystem. Little Blue Market is the shopping destination, while Little Blue Cart serves as a directory for discovering thousands of small businesses and service providers.
The result is a shopping experience built around more than simply finding a product. It creates an opportunity to discover the people and small businesses behind what you’re buying. From apparel and accessories to art, stationery, gifts, and other finds, Little Blue Market provides another avenue for consumers interested in intentionally exploring smaller businesses.
For us, that’s the real appeal. Sometimes supporting a small business begins with something very simple: knowing that business exists.
OTTERLIST: SHOP SMALL + SHOP WITH YOUR VALUES
OtterList was created to make independent, sustainable brands easier to discover. The platform brings together small businesses across categories including beauty and personal care, food and beverage, home, health and wellness, clothing and accessories, gifts, parenting, pets, and more.
What makes OtterList particularly useful is its approach to transparency and discovery. Products and brands can be identified by standards and attributes such as women-owned, minority-owned, family-owned, organic, non-toxic, cruelty-free, ethically sourced, small-batch, handmade, sustainable materials, and environmentally conscious packaging. That allows shoppers to look beyond the product itself and learn more about the businesses and practices behind it.
OtterList’s mission is straightforward: make it easier to find and support small, sustainable brands. For shoppers overwhelmed by trying to research every product or company individually, having those brands collected in one place can make discovering alternatives considerably easier.
QUINCE: ELEVATED ESSENTIALS WITHOUT THE TRADITIONAL MARKUP
Not every destination on our list needs to be a marketplace. Sometimes we simply discover a retailer doing something differently.
Quince has attracted attention for its approach to quality essentials and accessible pricing. The company’s model focuses on working directly with manufacturing partners and reducing many of the layers traditionally found between the factory and the consumer. Quince says this manufacturer-to-consumer approach allows it to offer higher-quality materials and products at prices below many traditional retail equivalents.
The assortment extends well beyond clothing. Shoppers can find cashmere, washable silk, leather goods, jewelry, travel essentials, bedding, home goods, and other everyday pieces. Rather than chasing every trend, Quince says it focuses heavily on elevated essentials — the pieces we repeatedly reach for in our closets, homes, and daily lives.
For women looking to balance quality, practicality, style, and price, Quince is worth knowing.
MAYHEM MARKETPLACE: PUTTING INDEPENDENT MAKERS FIRST
One of the most interesting parts of online shopping is the ability to buy something from an independent creator you might never have encountered otherwise. Mayhem Marketplace approaches that relationship from the seller’s perspective.
Created by Mayhem Makers, the marketplace describes itself as a creator-first commerce platform for independent sellers. Its model emphasizes flat fees rather than percentage-based fees wherever possible, with the goal of allowing creators to retain more of the value generated by their work.
That philosophy makes Mayhem particularly interesting to us. Behind every handmade product, creative idea, independent brand, or growing storefront is a person trying to build something sustainable. A marketplace designed around helping those creators grow provides shoppers with another opportunity to discover products while also supporting the people making and selling them.
For the entrepreneurs and creators within the THIS IS IT NETWORK™ community, Mayhem is worth exploring from both sides of the transaction — as shoppers looking for interesting products and as business owners thinking about where and how they sell.
THE FOLKLORE: DISCOVER INDEPENDENT BRANDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Our community is global, so our shopping discoveries should be global too.
The Folklore offers a curated consumer marketplace featuring sustainable, independent brands from more than 40 countries. The platform allows shoppers to explore fashion, accessories, beauty, home, wellness, and lifestyle products while discovering designers and founders they might not encounter through traditional shopping channels.
One of the features we particularly appreciate is the ability to discover businesses by founder identity. The Folklore highlights woman-owned, Black-owned, Asian-owned, Latinx-owned, Indigenous-owned, Pacific Islander-owned, and LGBTQI+-owned brands, creating another avenue for shoppers who want to intentionally discover founders from different backgrounds and communities.
Founded by Amira Rasool, The Folklore has also built a broader ecosystem around helping consumer brands connect with retailers and grow their businesses. That combination of discovery and business development makes it particularly relevant to the entrepreneurial community we serve at THIS IS IT NETWORK™.
DISCOVERY IS PART OF THE FUN
There is something exciting about finding a brand before everyone you know is talking about it. There is something satisfying about discovering the perfect gift from an independent maker, finding an elevated everyday essential at a price that makes sense, or learning the story behind the woman who built the company whose product just arrived at your door.
That is what WHERE WE SHOP is about.
We aren’t interested in telling our community that there is only one “right” way to shop. We are interested in giving women more choices. We want to introduce you to businesses you may not know, founders whose stories deserve attention, products worth discovering, and marketplaces creating different ways for consumers and entrepreneurs to connect.
Because where we spend our money can have an impact, but where we direct our attention matters too.
A click can become a discovery. A discovery can become a purchase. A purchase can become a recommendation. A recommendation can introduce a business to an entirely new community.
At THIS IS IT NETWORK™, we know the power of women sharing what they love with other women. We recommend the restaurant. We send the link. We share the sale. We tell our friends where we found the dress. We introduce each other to products, services, businesses, and experiences every single day.
That word-of-mouth has value. Next time you’re shopping online, consider exploring somewhere new. Browse Little Blue Market. Discover an independent sustainable brand through OtterList. Search for an elevated essential at Quince. Meet an independent maker through Mayhem Marketplace. Discover a global designer through The Folklore.
You may find exactly what you were looking for.
Better yet, you may discover something — or someone — you didn’t know you were looking for.
Happy shopping, SCREAMERS!
