Etsy, ProductHunt and Pinterest (the latter two both A16z portfolio companies) are building solutions from different directions, and a great many people trying to replicate some form of the boutique model online as well, as I suggested here - to create some kind of specialist curation.
Today, Curators could set up their ecommerce operation without leaving their living room. They could source inventory through wholesale sites (Faire, Taobao, JD.com), dropship products to a fulfilment service (Shipbob, ShipHero), set up a digital storefront and handle payments (Shopify, Stripe), and even outsource their marketing and creative needs... See more
This is space that multi brand retailers like department stores should own. They should have the credibility of the high taste of their merchant team (see Barney’s circa 2005) combined with the best staff dying to find you that perfect black tote.