Criterion Global: International Media Buying Blog

Whether your friend’s three-year old leather couch, 55% off laser hair removal, or a two-for-one three course meal coupon, consumer spending directly connected to social media has increased exponentially throughout 2010.  A few sites, most notably Groupon, have taken Costco’s business model, of buy in bulk for discounted prices, to the digital landscape.  The great thing about this new wave of technological coupon clipping is that the individual consumer needs not be concerned with taking on the “bulk”.   Rather than asking a friend to go halfsies on a five pound box of Apple Jacks, the “bulk” gets filled through an email list serve or creating a buzz by “Liking” a product on Facebook or Twitter.  Buyers have an actual interest in telling friends, colleagues, and even distant acquaintances about a certain deal as the deal only works if the bulk order gets filled. Long gone are the days of clipping coupons to get 20 cents off a can of corn. Now, armed with a credit card, anyone with internet access can get 60% off two nights at a posh New York City hotel.

Facebook Places took what Four Square had been doing for a while now and magnified the digital word-of-mouth. The 500 million members on Facebook significantly dwarf the seemingly meager user base of 2 million.  When a user checks into Places on their mobile device, the platform gives that person a choice of places to check into. While not directly ecommerce, friends can comment about or “Like” a place that the user checks in on Places.  This gives a good amount of added value with possibly thousands of impressions comprised of people who saw the “Like”.

In a New York Times article, Brooke Moreland, co-founder and CEO of Fashism commented, “Getting feedback at the point-of-sale is really powerful. This is a new way to show off inventory that is actually in the store and bringing in new customers.”  Fashism, along with competitors ModCloth and GoTryitOn, represents a new slant on social shopping where users can upload outfits and ask other users if it’s hot or not.  These sites give users a lot more freedom than Groupon or Facebook by adding the dreaded “hate it” button. While Facebook and Groupon may not want to risk scaring of advertisers by adding the ability for consumers to dislike something, Fashism encourages real feedback from real consumers.  Consumer feedback actually affects the product stock on ModCloth. Hopefully this is the future of social shopping where it becomes more of an open conversation between consumers and retail businesses.  One “Like” on Fashism could prove more meaningful than several “Likes” on Facebook.

If you’re hoping social shopping becomes a little more anonymous in the coming year, you’re likely in for a huge and very public disappointment. According to an Economist article, the third generation of ecommerce sites, like Swipely, are more for the “digital exhibitionists” than the private consumer. Every user’s credit card purchase is logged, in detail, on the site. Friends can see what, where, and for how much someone bought a specific item. Of course to keep the big brother aspect to a minimum, the user also has the ability to keep private the transactions they don’t want to share.

Even the whole mall experience has been copied and pasted into cyber space. A month ago Facebook launched its Shopping Mall in conjunction with Payvement. Shopping Mall will unify all of the businesses with Payvment storefronts and categorize shopping experiences by seller, items, bestsellers, recommended items, and more. But unlike traditional malls, Payvment’s Shopping Mall will allow users to “like” items that they want, see their friends’ “liked” items, and get recommendations based on their Facebook interests.

While there are plenty of options for a retail business to market their product through social media, finding the right ways to take advantage of this new wave of ecommerce without alienating your consumer base can prove complicated. We at Criterion Global pride ourselves on the work we have done on various ecommerce campaigns for our profitable retail clients.

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