Facebook - Talk not Shop!

Retailers at last month's Shop.org conference said that "Facebook is for socializing and not long bouts of shopping". Consumers visit Facebook to spend time with friends, have conversations and interact with their social network. Facebook is, however, a great place to discover new products. Users can get product recommendations from their social network, a much more powerful influencer than an anonymous review posted on an obscure website. Essentially, consumers use Facebook to talk about their purchases but not actually shop.

 

Click here to read more about what the speakers at Shop.org had to say.  

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

Five Mantras of Social Shopping

I came across this article by Samrat Kabiraj where he lists five mantras to help us make better purchases.

1. Dwell on what meets the needs and create a list of options
2. Find friends who may have bought a similar product
3. Get first hand product review, akin to a test drive
4. Get a little bit more for your money from recommendation sites
5. And finally, look for reliable reviews from people you trust.

The steps above do seem to lead to a happy social shopper. Click here to read the entire article and enjoy shopping socially!

 

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

Social Commerce - the 5th C of Community

The traditional 4C's of community - Content, Conversation, Connection and Continuity have been given a new member - Social Commerce, by Brian Solis. 

In a short but very relevant article Brian highlights that brands now need different strategies to cater to the traditional consumer and the social consumer. The social consumer taps into this social graph for shopping advice and influences purchase decisions in their social network. 

Our services are focussed on catering to this social consumer and creating an opportunity for social commerce. Every shared purchase is spread to the news feed of the social graph, there by, increasing a brand's reach and visibility.

 

Click here to read the full article.

 

 

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

Social Commerce's Tipping Point

Scott Morrison recently wrote an article covering how Social Commerce is reaching a tipping point. He quotes, Ethan Beard, who runs Facebook's developer network, saying that "Social Commerce will be big and disruptive". Ethan says, use of social media tools and content such as user profiles, customer reviews and ratings will make online shopping a social experience.

It is interesting to note that in August, U.S Internet users spent 41.1 billion minutes on Facebook, surpassing Google Inc.'s 39.8 billion minutes. Scott Wingo, CEO of Channel Advisor Corp., says "Facebook will be a top-three channel for all retailers within two or three years. 

Scott Morrison, succinctly summarizes his views by saying - "Social commerce is becoming socially acceptable".  

To read the full article, please click here. 

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

Social Commerce's Tipping Point

Scott Morrison recently wrote an article covering how Social Commerce is reaching a tipping point. He quotes, Ethan Beard, who runs Facebook's developer network, saying that "Social Commerce will be big and disruptive". Ethan says, use of social media tools and content such as user profiles, customer reviews and ratings will make online shopping a social experience.

It is interesting to note that in August, U.S Internet users spent 41.1 billion minutes on Facebook, surpassing Google Inc.'s 39.8 billion minutes. Scott Wingo, CEO of Channel Advisor Corp., says "Facebook will be a top-three channel for all retailers within two or three years. 

Scott Morrison, succinctly summarizes his views by saying - "Social commerce is becoming socially acceptable".  

To read the full article, please click here. 

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

ShopSocially is happy to announce $1.1M Series A funding

We are pleased to announce that we received $1.1M in Series A funding, led by Valhalla Partners. We also received additional participation from high profile angel investors Raman Khanna,  Ashish Gupta and Dharmesh Thakker.

We want to take a moment to thank all our users. Your support means a lot to us. Our entire team is confident that with this shot in the arm, we will be able to raise the bar even further and improve our user's experience.  

Please click here to read more.

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

How to Buy Online

I just read a blog by Abhishek Rohilla, where he has highlighted 5 things that we should keep in mind when shopping online.

The first two - knowing what one wants and knowing ones budgets have been appropriately emphasized. I agree that many a times we start our search without really knowing what we are looking for. Abhishek also advises us to read expert reviews and compare prices before we make up our mind.

What really takes the cake is the last tip where Abhishek suggests that the experience of shopping online is greatly improved by using the power of the social network. Reviews from our family and friends is usually more trustworthy and more relevant to our needs. ShopSocially's service aims to provide exactly this convenience to the user community. 

Do you use the power of your social network before you buy online?

Please click here to read the full article

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

Are you a Connector, a Salesman or a Maven?

If you are one of the above, then marketing agencies should be following your every move. Gartner has studied how certain people influence their social network in buying decisions. 

Gartner has categorized people into five buckets depending on the role they play in Social Networks -

• Connectors - have many people in their network and introduce people
• Salesmen - have many people in their network and are persuaders
• Mavens - are subject experts
• Seekers - reach out for buying advice
• Self-Sufficient - are researchers who make up their own mind

It is particularly interesting that 20% of the population is one of three - Connectors, Salesmen or Mavens. It is this 20% that influences 74% of the population in their shopping decisions. 

 

Here is the link to the article if you want to learn more.

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

So have you got the Fifth P?

An Altimeter Group report focuses on the 4 P's of marketing, namely Product, Price, Promotion and Position, to bring businesses closer to success in the world of social commerce. 

Brian Solis, a highly recognized new media marketing guru and author of the new book Engage!, has introduced a fifth P in this equation - People. I completely agree with Brian that it is the people dimension which will truly differentiate social media marketing from traditional marketing and commerce strategies. We are moving towards a people driven market where the collective power of the community will drive sales. Brian puts it very succinctly - "It’s your responsibility to not only focus on the aspects of “paying it backward,” i.e. pay me for my goods and services, but also “paying it forward,” the investment in your community so that brands merit resonance through relevance."

Businesses need to evolve a social media strategy in order to engage the social consumer and convert conversations to commerce. Perhaps, it suffices to say that Businesses need a way to connect the 'Shopping Gods' with 'Newbies'.

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

Now Search is turning Social

Jenna Wortham at The New York Times  says "Now, even on the Internet, it is not what you know but who you know." With this statement I think Jenna has hit the nail firmly on its head. This is what we truly believe at ShopSocially and it seems to become more and more obvious to everyone on the internet. In the past, if we wanted an opinion or a review about something we informally polled our friends, neighbors and colleagues. From this we evolved to using search engines to get information about everything under the sun. Now the wheel is turning a full circle with leading researchers and Search companies suggesting that getting results from our immediate social network will make search results more relevant. This is the new wave and it is here to stay. The multitude of social recommendation engines are proof. We believe that this will have an effect on not just search, but our whole lifestyle from where we shop, eat, spend our holidays etc. 

Click here to read the full article.

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

Interesting Article on Importance of Social Merchandising by Sam Decker

"Today's shoppers don't go to a store to determine which TV they want - they already know which product they want when they arrive." says Sam Decker, Chief Marketing Officer at Bazaarvoice. We at ShopSocially, have been talking about how the online market place needs new tools to leverage the power of social recommendations. In his article on ClickZ, Sam explains how traditional merchandising efforts don't translate to the web and that shoppers don't trust traditional marketing material anymore and want to hear from people like them. He has dissected the process which shoppers use to buy products online into three simple phases - Discovery, Choice and Validation/ Confidence. Discovery can start at the search engine but more recently seems to begin at social networking sites. Shoppers read reviews and stories from "poeple like them" to make or reduce choices. Finally, validation occurs by reaching out to a network of friends before making the final purchase.

Click here to read the entire article.

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

Excerpt from "After Social Networking And Social Marketing, Facebook Lets You Shop Socially"

"Saying that Facebook has become an important platform for social networking would be a big understatement. With the number of users that join the social networking website every day, it was no surprise that most companies and brands have a fan page on Facebook. Having a fan page meant marketing new products through the social networking giant without having to make too much of an investment in marketing, while at the same time ensuring massive penetration through the fans of the page, as well as their friends. So what would be the next logical step for any brand or company? Shopping through Facebook of course! Facebook is now a major platform for“Social” Shopping."

Link to full article:

http://www.watblog.com/2010/08/23/after-social-networking-social-marketing-facebook-shop-socially/  (by Anish Sadanand)

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

ShopSocially = Yelp for Shopping??

At least that’s how FastCompany seems to have categorized us. I don’t think that the categorization is quite right.

Social Shopping is a new category in and of itself. There are several smart players trying to crack this space but no one has broken out of the pack yet.

While I may differ from some of the bucketing in this chart, it is a very interesting compilation nonetheless and worth taking a look at.

Jai

Founder & CEO, ShopSocially

(http://ShopSocial.ly/jairawat)

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

Excerpt from Oracle's Insight Driven Retailing Blog

…ShopSocially, on the other hand, seems to better approximate real-world conversation. What do people do around the water-cooler from a shopping perspective? They talk about the important purchases they've made, usually explaining their reasoning and outcome. Then they ask others for opinions on purchases they are contemplating. ShopSocially makes both of those processes, sharing and asking, more efficient through the use of social networks…

Link to full article:

http://blogs.oracle.com/retail/2010/07/shopping_conversations.html (by David Dorf, Director of Technology Strategy at Oracle Retail)

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

4 easy steps to claim your shopping god crown at your favorite merchant

Do you buy frequently from a favorite merchant? Wanna be recognized as someone special at that merchant?  You can claim your  shopping god crown at your favorite merchant by sharing your purchases on ShopSocially.
Let’s say you buy frequently from Amazon.com and you want to claim the shopping god crown. Here is how you go about it.

Step 1. Check the current shopping god at the Amazon page on ShopSocially
You will receive the shopping god crown when you have shared more purchases than the current shopping god at Amazon.

Step 2. Make a list of all items you bought from Amazon.

Step 3. Share each purchase on ShopSocially by entering the product URL
Remember to fill Amazon in the merchant name box. This information is optional but required to claim your shopping god crown at Amazon. Continue to share purchases until you have surpassed the current shopping god.

Step 4. Visit the Amazon page on ShopSocially to verify your shopping god crown.
Also, check your own profile page on ShopSocially for your shopping god crown.

Its that simple! Remember, you can become a shopping god at any of the 5000+ merchants approved by ShopSocially. If you have purchased from a merchant that we have not yet approved, enter their name in the merchant box anyways. You will receive the shopping god crown after we approve that merchant. It usually takes 1-2 days to verify and approve a new merchant.

Beware! Keeping the shopping god crown is not easy. Another person might usurp your shopping god crown by sharing more purchases than you. So, be alert! Continue to share as many purchases from your favorite merchant as possible to retain your crown.

We are currently working to get some very cool rebates and discounts for shopping gods. Keep checking this blog for updates.

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

How to build a personal product catalog and share it with friends?

Wanna know what products your friends own? Wanna tell your friends what you own? With ShopSocially, you can build a personal catalog of products that you own.  Your friends can comment on your products and share their thoughts with you.
The easiest way to get started with your personal product catalog is to add things that you most commonly use.  You can then invite your friends to view and comment on items in your personal catalog.    

Of course, it is a perfectly good idea to add all kinds of things to your catalog. No need to limit your catalog only to the most commonly used items. Your friends may be interested all your special stuff too.

List out all the things that you own on a piece of paper. Then add the product to your personal catalog on ShopSocially by clicking on the Share a Purchase button.

Enter the product URL or product keywords to find the product.

Tell your friends your experience with the product. This will help them understand your thoughts on it.
Optionally, specify the merchant where you bought it and the price you paid for it. Your friends will thank you this information if they are in the market for a similar product.

Tell your friends about stuff that you own. Ask them to do the same. Try it! It is a liberating experience.

Check out my personal product catalog on ShopSocially. My catalog is evolving. Keep checking for updates. Tell me what you think.

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

Like shopping? Double your happiness by sharing your purchases with friends

Like shopping? I do too. But it is no fun at all when I just buy something and keep it in my closet without telling anyone. Shopping is fun when I share my purchases with friends and family. It is gratifying to hear their reactions, compliments and comparable products that they purchased. 
With ShopSocially, sharing with your friends is really simple. Just enter the product URL if you know it. Or enter keywords that describe the product.

ShopSocially automatically generates a product preview based on the product URL. If you entered search keywords, ShopSocially generates a preview of 10 products in a carousel.  You can flip through the carousel and select the product that your purchased. If you do not see your product in the carousel, you can refine the results with an approximate price or try new keywords that better describe your product.

Once you have selected the product, write a brief comment on what you feel about the product that you purchased. Tell your friends why you love it, why you hate it etc. This field is optional, but without a comment, your friends will have no idea about your reaction to the product.

You can optionally specify the merchant you bought the product from and the price you bought it for. ShopSocially supports over 5000 authorized merchants and will automatically auto-fill the name when you start typing. Though this information is optional, your friends will benefit from knowing this information. So fill it in if possible. Also, when you specify the merchant name, you can earn points toward the shopping god crown for that merchant. If you have the highest number of purchases for that merchant, you will be become the shopping god at that merchant.

Set the visibility based on your privacy preference. ShopSocially takes the privacy of your data very seriously and gives you full control on who will see your posts. You can also decide whether or not you want to have this post appear on Facebook.

When you click on “Share a Purchase” button, your post will be saved to your profile. You get points for every purchase that you share. ShopSocially awards cool badges and shopping god crowns. You will be notified of any points and badges that you have earned for that post. Earned shopping god crowns are also displayed. These goodies make sharing even more fun.

If you want to double the happiness of your shopping, share your purchases with your friends. You hear their reactions and compliments. You will also help out friends who might be looking to buy a similar product. If you don’t tell them what you bought, they will never know to ask you when they are looking for a similar product. So, spread the joy of your shopping! Share it on ShopSocially.

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

Like shopping? Double your happiness by sharing your purchases with friends (delay: 15 minutes))

Like shopping? I do too. But it is no fun at all when I just buy something and keep it in my closet without telling anyone. Shopping is fun when I share my purchases with friends and family. It is gratifying to hear their reactions, compliments and comparable products that they purchased. 
With ShopSocially, sharing with your friends is really simple. Just enter the product URL if you know it. Or enter keywords that describe the product.

ShopSocially automatically generates a product preview based on the product URL. If you entered search keywords, ShopSocially generates a preview of 10 products in a carousel.  You can flip through the carousel and select the product that your purchased. If you do not see your product in the carousel, you can refine the results with an approximate price or try new keywords that better describe your product.

Once you have selected the product, write a brief comment on what you feel about the product that you purchased. Tell your friends why you love it, why you hate it etc. This field is optional, but without a comment, your friends will have no idea about your reaction to the product.

You can optionally specify the merchant you bought the product from and the price you bought it for. ShopSocially supports over 5000 authorized merchants and will automatically auto-fill the name when you start typing. Though this information is optional, your friends will benefit from knowing this information. So fill it in if possible. Also, when you specify the merchant name, you can earn points toward the shopping god crown for that merchant. If you have the highest number of purchases for that merchant, you will be become the shopping god at that merchant.

Set the visibility based on your privacy preference. ShopSocially takes the privacy of your data very seriously and gives you full control on who will see your posts. You can also decide whether or not you want to have this post appear on Facebook.

When you click on “Share a Purchase” button, your post will be saved to your profile. You get points for every purchase that you share. ShopSocially awards cool badges and shopping god crowns. You will be notified of any points and badges that you have earned for that post. Earned shopping god crowns are also displayed. These goodies make sharing even more fun.

If you want to double the happiness of your shopping, share your purchases with your friends. You hear their reactions and compliments. You will also help out friends who might be looking to buy a similar product. If you don’t tell them what you bought, they will never know to ask you when they are looking for a similar product. So, spread the joy of your shopping! Share it on ShopSocially.

Posted via email from ShopSocially Blog

KillerStartups on ShopSocially

Here is what KillerStartups has to say about ShopSocially.

Link to complete article: http://www.killerstartups.com/eCommerce/shopsocial-ly-giving-shopping-a-social-twist

Jai Rawat

Posted via email from ShopSocial.ly Blog

Win an iPad everyday !

We are giving away an iPad everyday for the next 5 days.

http://shopsocial.ly/promotion.html

Posted via email from ShopSocial.ly Blog

ShopSocially goes live

Lot of hard work, lot of great feedback during private beta. Thanks all.

We are now live with public beta. Here are some snippets of the coverage..

Social shopping has become both a hot and somewhat controversial topic. We would love to hear your comments.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/18/shopsocially-taps-into-your-social-graph-for-product-recommendations/

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shopsocially-launches-100-friend-powered-shopping-request-and-recommendation-service-94097824.html

http://gigaom.com/2010/05/18/shopsocially-another-site-to-foster-conversations-about-buying-products/

Jai Rawat

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from ShopSocial.ly Blog

Looking to buy something. Why not ask your friends for help?

The first thing that I do when I want to buy something is to pick up the phone and call a friend. This is because it is tiring to go through thousands of reviews on shopping sites. I admit, I am lazy! I let my intelligent friends do the research. I just buy what they buy. I trust their research.  It is very simple to do this.
I just create a shout on ShopSocially and invite my friends to comment on my shout. I have seen some very creative ideas come from friends. Ideas that I would not have thought of.

Sometimes, I simply do a search on ShopSocially for items and find discussions that have between other people who have bought a similar item. I hate the hours of browsing through unreliable (and sometimes planted) reviews on shopping websites to arrive at the right decision. ShopSocially makes it simple.

Pretty cool, huh? A shopping shout is one of the basic components of ShopSocially. When friends share their purchases and other friends shout for stuff they are looking for, everyone benefits from the collective shopping wisdom that is created as shopping gets done.

Posted via email from ShopSocial.ly Blog

Earn Founding Member badge

For a limited time, earn the Founding Member badge when you join ShopSocially.

Posted via email from ShopSocial.ly Blog

Welcome to ShopSocially

Friends,

Welcome to ShopSocially  - a fun and easy way for friends to give and get shopping advice.

We all ask our friends for recommendations, we go out of our way to help them and we like to share our purchases with friends to get their comments. ShopSocially makes it possible to do it all online  - with friends around the world! There are a lot of fun elements too – but we’ll let you discover them yourself :)

It’s that simple. Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Jai Rawat (Founder, CEO)

Posted via email from ShopSocial.ly Blog