If you live in a major city and enjoy dining out, going to museums or pampering yourself with spa services, it's likely that you also receive "deal of the day" offers from Groupon or LivingSocial. And perhaps you've tapped into the "wisdom of crowds" shopping model and participated in a free auction on Listia or received advice from people in the online fashion community before purchasing something on Kaboodle. And if you read the tech blogs, you're probably aware of up-and-coming startups Blippy and Swipely. What do these internet companies have in common? They are all part of a new trend in eCommerce called social shopping. The main idea behind social shopping is that user interactions on eCommerce sites are more difficult to capture and share between customers than they are in brick-and-mortar establishments. Think about it. People often go shopping with friends, discuss items they intend to purchase and even physically examine products together. These outings are as much social events as they are purchasing events. But in the online world, the social aspect of shopping was missing—until now.
Recently, Facebook and Amazon validated that this trend is hot by announcing that users can now shop socially by connecting their Amazon and Facebook accounts:
When shoppers connect their Amazon and Facebook accounts, they see their Facebook profile photo on Amazon’s site. They also see which of their Facebook friends have upcoming birthdays, and receive gift suggestions based on the music, books and movies those friends have said they like on Facebook and on their Amazon wish lists. At the same time, they see recommendations on what to buy for themselves, based on what their friends like. (New York Times)
Based on the results from Tealeaf's 2009 Harris survey, we know that:
- 8 of 10 users reported they had experienced some sort of problem when attempting to conduct business online.
- 26% of online adults who experience problems conducting online transactions then posted complaints on a company's Website in 2009
- 12% of online adults who encountered issues said they shared those experiences via blogs or social networks
While sharing user interactions on Amazon directly to the larger online community on Facebook makes sense for the customer and will hopefully generate revenue for the retailer, bad customer experiences will now be shared virally—no clicks needed. In essence, Amazon and Facebook have become one site. Product reviews on Amazon are now wall posts on Facebook. This could be a scary thing for Amazon, or any eCommerce site, if they don't focus on Customer Experience Management.
Social shopping calls for flawless web site optimization. Retailers who want to advance into social shopping and its transparency must be able to see their customers' actual online experiences, analyze their transactions and ultimately figure out "why" they behave the way they do on their sites. It could be an insurance policy against the whole world (or just 500 million people), knowing about it before they do.
Retailers need to focus on Customer Experience Management to avoid Socialshopping disasters #LI
Posted by: Pamroes | September 20, 2010 at 10:00 AM