Digital Design Blog

Social Shopping

With the recent emergence of several user-generated eCommerce product aggregators, consumers are fully recognizing their ability to affect online retailers� assortments and sales. Sites like Stylehive.com, Kaboodle.com and ThisNext.com are taking the lead in a whole new commerce-driven social media movement that we call “Social Shopping.”

Stylehive.com is one of the leaders in social shopping. Savvy retailers like the Gap have set-up custom storefronts on the service.

Blending the best of social networking and online shopping, social shopping sites are creating environments that allow consumers to create lists of products from retailers, comment and rate them, take polls that help them make purchase decisions and, most importantly, share the products and their opinions with other consumers in the end, affecting online retailers sales in both positive and unexpected ways. The success of these sites is based in several key truths: shopping is often a social event, people like to get opinions on items they’re considering, and they get ideas from a variety of retailers and, now, an entire world of consumers.

What Does It Mean?
Primarily targeted at the Digital Class�18-24-year olds (2007 Digital Outlook Report, Avenue A | Razorfish), social shopping sites provide a new way to navigate an expansive, multi-retailer assortment. Tag clouds, unbelievably rich and accurate views of the traditional “items like this” cross-sell, and the user�s ability to create an assortment of products that are uniquely “them,” support the overall user desire for self-expression and sharing in a broader context.

While we don�t expect retailers to become aggregators, there are important steps retailers can take:

1. Embrace these sites. Their audiences are your new merchandising team.

2. Watch your assortment. Consumer feedback on your products and overall selection is readily available.

3. Learn from them. These sites are part of an emerging trend in digital interactions.

What Can You Do Now?
Social shopping sites represent a number of key behaviors that can be re-interpreted for any retailer�s site. Here are six things that you can start doing today:

1. Provide more meaningful cross-sells
Consumers are often skeptical of products that are presented as cross-sells and up-sells from a retailer-specific point of view. They question their intent and origination. Leverage tag clouds and relationships established by consumers as a way to add validity to your cross-sells.

2. Offer tools that support consumers� need to consider items
Our retailing research has resulted in a common finding over and over�”The shopping cart is where I put items I�ve already decided to buy.” What do consumers do with the items they�re still considering? Currently, e-commerce sites support viewing a single item at a time. Provide a place for customers to store items they�re considering just as they do in-store as they carry items with them while shopping.

3. Allow consumers to play
Seamless approaches to finding and viewing items are key. Allowing customers to mix, match and compare in a wholly interactive manner will quickly become the norm. Some examples include: Like.com�s feature that allows customers to key in on a single feature of an item and view more like it; Etsy.com�s feature that allows customers to view the assortment based on color family; or Endless.com�s visual approach to faceted navigation. New interaction models are yet to be realized.

4. Support multi-dimensional product comparison
Product comparison tools, while valuable, are primarily one dimensional�focusing on the hard-line facts of the products e.g., technical specifications. Add new dimensions to product comparison tools by leveraging consumer reviews and aspects of the product that are more emotional and functional rather than specification-based.

5. Leverage content from select social shopping sites
Explore methods for incorporating user-generated lists and comments into your retail site in an effort to support existing customer reviews. As these social shopping sites move toward monetizing their environments, retailers may have the ability to develop relationships that allow them to grow existing content bases.

6. Create a stand-alone checkout process
Checkout processes are traditionally laden with features�some offering expedited processes, for example, one-click and stored information. Consider leveraging expedited, lightweight checkout processes that allow consumers to complete their purchases from aggregator sites, like Shopzilla, with low-involvement interactions.

by Bethany Fenton