US social shopping web site Kaboodle is to launch in the UK next year as part of intern-ational expansion.

Chief executive and founder Manish Chandra said the UK is one of the markets that the business wants to target when it spreads its wings from the US. “Up to 4 per cent of our traffic comes from the UK already, so there is a high probability that we will come there when we expand,” he said.

Kaboodle is the number one social shopping site in the US by number of users and receives about 8 million unique visitors a month.

Its UK debut would pitch it against an increasing number of social shopping sites including Osoyou.com and John Clare’s online venture Myfaveshop.com, which launched in June.

Kaboodle was set up in 2005 as a platform for consumers to create and join groups, and share advice and feedback on shops and products.

Chandra said: “Women aged 18 to 35 years old are our sweet spot, but we are attracting older customers too and aim to be a central point for women shopping online.”

This year, the site launched brand profiles, which allow retail partners such as Nordstrom to create and manage their own profile area on the site. It also features special partnerships such as a “back to school” page in association with department store JC Penney. The UK site would have a localised focus, but would also allow users to search for products and retailers from other countries.

IMRG chief executive James Roper said that social shopping sites are becoming increasingly important.

“There was some resistance for a while from retailers, but it is a great way of finding out what products are working and what is not in a way they have never been able to before,” he said. “Consumers are very keen to get advice and feedback from other consumers.

“These sites are a crucial part in the future of retailing and retailers should be monitoring closely what is going on and adapting parts that are relevant for them.”