Prominent online retail brands like Mattel, Buy.com and Charlotte Russe, as well as dozens of smaller ones, have begun to embrace social shopping technologies in recent months. Why now?

In a tight retail environment and tough economy, businesses are looking for more ways to deliver a competitive advantage and a strong return. Real-time social shopping technologies cost a fraction of a typical retailer’s marketing budget and only take a couple of days or weeks to deploy. And retailers like Charlotte Russe that are using the technology have seen significant increases in unit lift, average order values and time spent on site, while seeing decreases in returns. (more…)