DecisionStep » e-tail

For Electronics, Teens Look To Their Friends

decisionstep — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 18:28:00 +0000

We have seen early adopters in our ShopTogether technology from within Cosmetics, Toys, Shoes, Teen Apparel as well as Electronics with our Buy.com implementation. This article further makes the case for investing in social and collaborative solutions when targeting Teens and Electronics online! Check it out.

Collaborative Shopping gets noticed in the UK

decisionstep — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:35:29 +0000

Here is a nice piece from the UK advocating social shopping and outlining some options retailers and others have. They use a couple DecisionStep clients as examples!

Check it out:
GDR Creative Intelligence Global Innovation Report - Conversational Commerce

Social Experiences in E-Commerce

decisionstep — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:02:57 +0000

Yesterday our CEO John Jackson had a briefing with Charlene Li, founder of The Altimeter Group, an influential, “research-based advisory firm that helps companies and industries leverage disruption to their advantage.” She provided some very encouraging words and helpful feedback throughout the briefing and also tweeted about the discussion. In advance of the Altimeter Group’s upcoming “Rise of Social Commerce” conference in October, Charlene’s colleague, Christine Tran, wrote this great blog post today mentioning our ShopTogether technology as one of the “7 Social Experiences in E-Commerce,” and the work we do with Mattel and Charlotte Russe (among others).

As part of the “Recommendations, Reviews, and Ratings” category that Christine includes in the No. 1 spot, we would also add our ShopTogether Crowd application as an example of a real-time recommendations engine. ShopTogether Crowd displays the most popular items on a retailer’s site in a dynamic display, with products moving in and out as the crowd’s favorites change in real time. ShopTogether Crowd lets customers see what’s popular with other people who shop when they do.

For example, if you think about online shopping in terms of a real-world shopping mall, visitor demographics tend to change during different times of the day, i.e., there may be older customers coming to the store in the morning, office workers visiting during their lunch breaks, and students stopping by in the afternoon when classes are over. As the likes of those different demographics change during the day, ShopTogether Crowd reflects those changes in real-time, giving like-minded visitors new ideas for what to buy and marketers a new look at their customer base. Here is an example of how this application works via our customer Charlotte Russe’s Facebook fan page.

It looks like the Altimeter Group has a great show lined up for October and it will be interesting to see what other innovations for online retailers they discuss.

Three Aspects of a Social Strategy Online Businesses Need to Address

decisionstep — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:19:22 +0000

There is a lot of marketing “noise” recently around social as it relates to online shopping. With the popularity of Facebook and other social networks, and the race for retailers and other online businesses to solidify their social strategy, we thought we’d provide some context around how we see the market. Based on our experience working with innovative brands and our extensive discussions with online retailers and other business partners, we see three main categories in social commerce that e-commerce brands need to address:

Viral Marketing: Retailers need to tap into their customers’ social networks to promote products, find new, like-minded customers and generate traffic or buzz around the brand. There are many companies working in this area, with many creative agencies developing smart, integrated campaigns leveraging Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter and the like, while generating new “fans” for brands to reach.
Affirmation: Ratings and reviews initially served to give consumers more confidence in a product’s reliability, worthiness or “cool” factor. But until recently, these have mostly been from anonymous reviewers or people unknown by the purchaser. Now though, buyers can get this affirmation directly from the people who matter most in the purchase decision, namely friends, family and peers. The Facebook “Like” button and commenting/feedback via social networks are examples.
Collaboration: Consumers can work together in real time to choose a car, furniture or an outfit. Also, some companies are promoting group purchasing and/or steep discounts if large numbers of consumers buy within a certain timeframe. This area stands out because it can lead directly to a purchase. ShopTogether, Groupon are specific examples of collaboration solutions.

Retailers need to address all three of these areas in their social strategy. ShopTogether’s flexible interface and turn-key products can help retailers address each one of these aspects to create a complete and effective social commerce solution. We would love to hear how you’re viewing the space.