Except for groceries, if you’re like the average American, you do at least half of your shopping online. It’s pretty likely that most of your friends do too. As social media sites grow and need money for their sites’ upkeep, and retail companies struggle to find niche audiences for their products, the love affair between retail and social media is inevitable.
We see our social media profiles as reflections of ourselves; through them, we express our interests and desires. What better place for retail to figure out who and where their niche audiences are?
In the meantime, this partnership means that online shopping is becoming, well, more social. Here are some of the ways that retail companies are using social media retail technology to make the online shopping experience more collaborative.
Customers want the feeling of in-person shopping, but at home.
Humans are social creatures, first and foremost. Retail has always been driven by people’s disposition to go shopping together- as a social activity. So it makes sense that online shopping, traditionally a solo experience, is turning into a more collaborative shopping experience. There are a few things online retailers do to make online shopping feel more like the brick-and-mortar experience.
Mimicking the physical shopping process
In order to feel like we are shopping in an actual store, online retailers enable customers to use a cart to place items in and look at later to make a decision. Research shows that another thing people tend to do when shopping is asking their close friends on their opinions.
This might be why e-commerce sites such as Amazon have incorporated buttons below products that allow the buyer to share to Facebook and other social media sites. This lets the buyer shop collaboratively, by sharing product info with friends to find out their opinions.
The development of collaborative e-commerce has been all about finding ways to allow the user to seek recommendation or validation seamlessly, without resorting to methods not intended for e-commerce like texting or messaging. Also, e-commerce developers are seeking ways to allow for collaboration on one screen, in real time. This would be exceedingly useful in circumstances such as booking joint travel lodging and airplane tickets, as these prices fluctuate so much over time.
How could online retailers benefit from the rise of collaborative online shopping?
As with any retail technology, retailers have to weigh the pros and cons before choosing strategies for their own company. Since social shopping online aligns so well with our intrinsic human nature, there is almost guaranteed benefit to adopting strategies that allow for social shopping.
In addition, online retailers benefit from increased traffic, both in page views and page time. Plus, by making online shopping less lonely or alienating, collaborative shopping leads to a more rewarding buying experience, resulting in higher levels of brand engagement and perception. Social shopping can also be used as a gateway into gathering more consumer information on the incentives behind buyer choices, in order to better target audiences and personalize products.
Conclusion
Allowing for social collaboration in the world of online shopping directly from the retailer, it is possible to come closer to imitating the experience of shopping in an actual store. There are more opportunities for the retailer to gather information, upsell, and cater to individual desires.
What do you think about the rise of collaborative shopping? Should retailers push this or encourage shoppers to keep flying solo?
