Social shopping is one of the hottest trend in the Internet world right now. It may be one of the most important one also to follow in 2011. As I would define it, social shopping encompasses all activities which will lead one shopper to use social media in his process to purchase a product or a service.
It can include several different features, among which:
- Checking in Foursquare or Gowalla to let his/her friends know what he/she is doing, or to access some vouchers.
- Visiting/asking questions/commenting on a blog/forum.
- Asking friends on Twitter or Facebook about the products.
- Simply reading comments and reviews either on Facebook, brand websites, ecommerce websites, blogs...
It appears that opinions of others online is very important in the decision making process. And hence, new social media are taking a very important part into this process.
Now, social media are migrating on mobile devices, and I found an interesting articloe about Myshopanion. It is a mobile application which aims to help shoppers to interact with peers. You may scan one product with your application to access several sources of information, such as comments of others.
I believe it is a good idea to launch such an app, in order to help the customers right before they purchase something, to make sure they are making the good choice.
In term of customer relationship management, it is a good thing those kinds of apps exist. Indeed, most of the new shopping tools emphasizes discounts and price comparaison, but when one company wants to show off its customer experience and customer service, what else than cusotmer reviews can be efficient? Indeed, I still believe that customers don't make their decision simply by comparing prices. They are also looking for a specific customer experience and customer service which they need and they feel they deserve.
Myshopanion is hence bringing social shopping onto mobile devices.
