Are Brands Prepared for Social Shopping?

by John Andrews on Jun 29, 2010 Follow @katadhin

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Utility frequently drives initial adoption and ultimate usage of new digital and social tools. Take Facebook for example, my mom started to use Facebook so she could easily see pictures of my daughter. I don’t upload the photos, but also because of utility, I post them automatically as I use the location based service Whrrl. She now uses many Facebook tools regularly that she’s discovered on her own.

Several client projects we’ve been working on at Collective Bias recently have been experimenting with social shopping tools such as Shop Savvy and StickyBits. These tools are not widely adopted at this point but they are a preview of things to come so understanding their utility is a good first step.

I’m currently a participant in a shopping program exploring the electric razor category for our Philips Norelco client. I was tasked with shopping for a new razor and using these new tools to aid in the process.

I started my trip by doing some initial research online. A Google “electric Razor” search produces a little over 1MM results along with over 10 sponsored links. Not surprising since a majority of online shopping trips begin with search. Google has also added several shopper focused tools recently including images of leading products and product ratings and reviews.

As Kelley Mooney demonstrates in her book Open Brand, the shopper’s path has radically changed, the traditional shopping funnel no longer exists. At this point in my purchase process, I haven’t even been into a store, yet I already have begun to form opinions about the category due to digital content (some paid and some free) and by participating in community conversations.

I went to Walmart store #5260 (NYSE: WMT) in Rogers, AR to learn more about the category and purchase a razor. I began to document my trip on Whrrl to share the information with others that might be interested in the category. At the shelf, I was able to easily compare pricing of the products I found to other retailers using the ShopSavvy app simply by scanning the UPC.

Walmart’s price of $142.47 was the lowest available locally. Amazon’s price was $2.50 lower, but the immediate gratification, Walmart’s return policy and possible shipping costs all factored into my total purchase value equation. I also was able to get relevant product ratings from other customers who have used the product. This is great decision support as I’m physically standing at the shelf.

I ended up purchasing the Philips Norelco 8260CC primarily due to its combination of lightweight construction and feature set. This was one possible shopping path out of infinite potential permutations and each consumer will have a different experience.

Did I visit Facebook or Twitter (the current leading social platforms for most brands)? No. But those platforms do have some effect on the Google and rating and review content streams but weren’t especially useful to me in this category.

I added some content using the Stickybits application (also connected to the product UPC) that as with my Whrrl trip could impact future social shopping experiences for others. The bottom line is that these new tools are coming on line daily and there is no way any marketer can cover them all, yet shoppers will be expecting to find blends of brand and consumer content wherever they choose to engage.

Developing, building and supporting brand advocate communities offers a potential solution to social shopping integration for brands. Community focused approaches not only provide a valuable feedback and testing loop but also helps to generate retail connected consumer content that optimizes multiple shopping streams.

No one knows which tools will eventually emerge as the most widely used by shoppers. But the brands that are actively engaging and learning now will be better positioned to provide consumers with great shopping experiences in the future.

Post Author

John Andrews

John Andrews is Managing Partner of Collective Bias, a social shopper marketing company helping connect brands, retailers and consumers in conversation.... View Full Profile →

http://margauxzion.tumblr.com MargauxZ

Oh, the haul video…. my customers have been producing these for years, no one knew the social impact they had early in the game. Now, in my work, we see these key influences like Juicystar07 as valuable points of trust for our customers. It is phenomenal to see this early adaption come to become mainstream.
http://twitter.com/saving4someday saving4someday

Very interesting article. I was aware of Stickbits but not Shop Savvy, so I'll have to give that a try. It would be great to have additional resources available while shopping to make sure I'm getting the best deal.

Thank you!
http://twitter.com/saving4someday saving4someday

Very interesting article. I was aware of Stickbits but not Shop Savvy, so I'll have to give that a try. It would be great to have additional resources available while shopping to make sure I'm getting the best deal.

Thank you!
http://twitter.com/TheAppleOfMyEye Courtney Velasquez

Knowledge is power and as a shopper our time is precious. We go to the internet and do quick searches to gain the knowledge and to compare the prices. It's quick and easy, just like we like it! There are so many new tools out there that are making it so much easier by taking steps away so that we have our knowledge even quicker. I love the possibilities of Stickybits. I love that I can be at the store, pick up an item that I'm interested in, but not 100% sure of, scan it with my phone and get reviews, recipes, ect that could help me in making my decision…very cool! Shop Savvy, I haven't checked out, but will now. Great article!
http://twitter.com/KatjaPresnal Katja Presnal

Great point – and not just that we need to be aware of the new tools, but also that while consumers can form their opinions before even hitting the store (and have been for years), today their opinion can be changed and influenced with (social) mobile apps when they are standing right next to the shelf. And this if anything is powerful; while many still might choose the convenience of purchasing the product right there, there are many who will choose other options. What if the price difference is large, or you can get additional value by clicking your app and ordering the product home (or walking to the next store to get it)? What if the lines in the store are long and you could see the store next door has express check-out?
When it comes to social media influencer communities for brands, they are valuable not just as testing the tools, providing feedback, but also trailblazing any brand's visibility in new media. There is something powerful of being seen as a brand that has been part of the early adopter's club. Also the brand loyalty to consumer products can also drive the usage of new apps – brand advocates want to share positive information about the brand they love. We have really noticed this with our client Hershey – the Hershey brand advocates have been open to trying out new apps and figuring out new ways to use them, because they want everyone to know how great the brand is. And that of course is the beauty of social media influencer advocacy groups.
Jrmaxiv

As we becme more entertainment focused using readily available tools, perhaps we will get short video references instead of written ones. My bet is the ease of that will explode the social content around products just as YouTube has exploded the social video genre.
http://jasonkeath.com jakrose

This is already happening. There are plenty of folks bringing video screens into the shopping isle. And Pepsi already has a StickyBitz promotion that will launch a video from them on your smart phone when you scan certain products.
John Andrews

http://www.stickybits.com/c/0034000003129 here's a great example of integrated stickybits video content from Hershey's (client)
http://www.linkedin.com/in/richullman richullman

This is a nice little case in point for the process of “dabbling” and what it can do for you. The tools available for marketers, merchants and consumers are expanding so fast that each one of the groups (particularly the first two) need to dabble a little in using them to get a feel for how they can expand usage in the future. That goes for mobile apps like you discribed and for things like the iPad, which will evolve over time.
http://jasonkeath.com jakrose

I could not agree more. Dabbling is smart. Testing the waters and all.
John Andrews

Check out this Dabbling with Whrrl's new check in to win technology delivering some real world fun to buying Gas at MurphyUSA (client) stations http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/67278. Customers can check in and win $50 in gas.
jaythornton000

I'm a big fan of the Red Laser app these days, now free from the app store coincidentally, and have seen on a recent major electronics purchase that stores are starting to match displayed prices from local competitors on the same product (um, go Best Buy). Tie this to shopping Amazon for ratings and reviews before I even left the house and basically, Panasonic's traditional media plan was wasted on me.

My question is “Are Retailers ready for social shopping?” I think brands are -slowly- starting to get it while retailers are falling victim to old ideology of “We're the trusted source, they'll buy from us.” All items equal, it's all about the price and service after the sale… all covered inside social networks.
http://www.thebigbinder.com Jennifer Rees

It's interesting, also, to think of how this will change each of the distribution channels' pricing. In your example, it was less expensive at Amazon, but other factors caused you to buy it at Walmart. If you were at home on your laptop and looking at apples to apples; that is, click the Walmart buy now or the Amazon buy now buttons, you may have made a different decision. Price isn't everything; it never has been, but now stores and companies have to understand even better what those 'other factors' are when people make purchasing decisions and just how much value the associate with convenience, return policy, etc. Fascinating insight in your article!
http://tedrubin.com Ted Rubin / OpenSky

Social shopping has many components, expanding everyday, and has been around for centuries. Woman shop socially with friends and family, and always have, so convincing them to share, participate and have fun with it is not the issue, but rather its the myriad of choices, the ever evolving applications, and the education process that goes along with all this innovation. The problem as I see it is discovering and using the appropriate applications that will get the traction and scale required to make them valuable to shoppers and brands alike.

Fortunately for the brands, they have a company like CollectiveBias on the front lines constantly testing, vetting and crowd sourcing to determine the viability, user friendliness, and potential long term value of new applications and how they will change the evolving social shopping landscape.
Jerri Ann

Ok, throwing in my two cents worth here because…well you know, I just do that. I would never go inside a store, a mall or even convenience store if I could get away with it. I like the ability to scan barcodes and check how the prices of a products line up against the others. But, if I do that in the store, there's always the element of “hurry up, get finished, get out of the store before they throw me out because my kids have turned into green monsters.”

But, if I can shop online, I can read reviews, jump back and forth between sites, peel my kids off the walls, detangle them from the ceiling fans where they are learning to fly and then go back and pick up where I left off. I have thoroughly enjoyed the Murphy app the most so far but to be perfectly honest, I haven't exactly tried a ton of them.

I like instant gratifications and because of that, I wish shipping costs weren't so difficult to manage. However, I live in a very rural area and unless it is a product that I need asap and I haven't planned to buy, it's just as cheap for me to pay shipping in most cases as it is for me to drive to a store. If I plan ahead and make my research complete, buying online would be my only source of shopping and buying completely.

I've never been a window shopper, I've never been “going shopping with the girls” kind of person. I go in, get what I went in after and I get out. It's a race to see just how fast I can do it without lingering. So, the app with the StickyBits has the potential to be big for me as well because I can see what folks I know already (from my own friends list) have to say about the products.

With that, let me stay at home, avoid the heat and have the delivery guy just bring me what I need. It is too hot to even buy cold items in a grocery store where we live without packing a cooler to bring it home in. That is way more trouble than I ever want to spend shopping when I can do so much of it online.

Just my 2 cents..or maybe that was 10 sends.

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