E-Commerce solutions provider ATG has posted a report from Sucharita Mulpuru at Forrester, which takes a look at the state of social commerce technologies and helps retailers prioritize investments.
DecisionStep’s ShopTogether application is included as an example in the co-browsing/co-shopping category. Forrester finds that 35 percent of retailers are looking to add this functionality in 2010, and calls it out as “… extremely valuable because it can reduce abandonment by confused or frustrated shoppers,” and that “…applications of this tool to high-value verticals such as appliances or auto could be promising.” Also, “If executed well, this has the ability to drive increased conversion and reduced cart abandonment.”
Also evaluated, product sharing was called out as “one of the most promising social commerce technologies …While the value of social network pages themselves remains questionable, peer-to-peer (P2P) product sharing appears to be more promising. It is currently deployed or was planned for implementation/enhancement in 2009 by 53% of retailers surveyed…Several retailers already report that this functionality has driven more traffic to their site than virtually all other interactive marketing tactics (other than paid search).”
Product sharing can easily be coupled with a collaborative shopping experience in real-time when the users are online together. You can create an environment of not only sharing, but one that has a friendly and high-functioning experience where a second opinion from a trusted friend comes effortlessly.
As for social recommendations, Forrester found that this technology is “currently employed or was planned for implementation/enhancement in 2009 by 59% of Web retailers.” Given the mass appeal, choose to implement in a way that keeps your customers engaged with your products and brand—and let them bring their friends into the store too.
Tags: ATG, co-browsing, co-shopping, e-commerce, Forrester, s-commerce, ShopTogether, shoptogether crowd, social commerce, social shopping