eRetailers and eMarketers: Ecce Homo!

And then there is the Metrosexual, a modern masculine archetype that has been backed by misguided overzealous marketing simpletons into the wrong corner.

Let's clear the table of loaded words like s-i-s-s-y and g-a-y, and look at a new phenomenon that emerged decidedly unscathed from the financial debacle that started in 2008: The Male Luxury Shopper.

A spike in the sale of luxury goods was noted in 2010, with volume rising 10 per cent worldwide to $237 billion, after dipping by 8 per cent in 2009, according to consulting firm Bain & Co. And it was the affluent male consumer propelling the surge. Men's spending in the category grew 43 per cent compared to 28 percent in women's. In addition, men's share of total dollars spent on luxury apparel rose by 80 percent last year, while women's rose only 57 per cent.

A wagon trail of new e-commerce sites have headed this new Metrosexual's way. He's the one who wants to like the way he looks, has the spending power to make it happen, doesn't think it has to be complicated, doesn't want to be fussy about it.

In February, Nordstrom acquired Haute Look, an upscale e-tail site. Top of the range labels like Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth, and Bergdorf have beefed up their online men's sections to approximate the heft of their online women's and children's sections.

Endeavouring to expand its e-commerce empire, now valued at $1 billion, Gilt Groupe raised an additional $138 million in May from a consortium of new investors that included Goldman Sachs. In July, Ermenegildo Zegna launched their dotcom-along with an iPad-only app.

Gilt is an interesting case in point. With 3.5 million members, gilt.com grew its e-commerce style destination for men with "not a little help from content," writes PR consultant Angela Stringfellow in her blog, The Content Strategist.

In quality of content, it appears Gilt that could credibly pass for an editorial site, one that only happens to sells men's apparel- except that its revenues jumped 500 per cent in 2010 and are projected to breach $500 million this year.

Since the strategy is working, what is now Gilt Groupe has launched Park & Bond, another 'editorial site' (Stringfellow describes it as GQ-esque), masquerading as a niche e-commerce site for men's luxury goods, with the unheard of convenience (for editorial sites) of buying something on the spot after just reading about it.

Instant gratification. Which should remind you of Playboy and Penthouse, both of which took male baby boomers by storm in the previous century. Great interviews, great content: superior editorial enterprises masquerading as glossy girlie magazines. It makes complete sense to me.