The Growing Influence of Online Social Shoppers

• Posted: Friday, April 11, 2008
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Online Services

Who do consumers trust? Increasingly, each other.

According the Edelman “Trust Barometer,” consumers feel the most credible source for information about a company—and by inference, products— is a “person like themselves.”

Now with social shopping sites, product blogs and online ratings and reviews, consumers have the means to communicate their opinions about products and companies to tens of thousands of other consumers “like themselves” at a critical point in the sales cycle—the beginning.

“While blogs and customer ratings and reviews have long been a familiar part of the Internet commercial landscape,” says Jeff Grau, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the new report, Consumer Interactions: Social Shopping, Blogs and Reviews, “over the past two years social shopping sites have emerged as another way for customers to share product experiences and opinions.”

Social shopping sites attempt to replicate the emotional and social aspects of real-world shopping—such as strolling through mall stores with friends or swapping product stories at the office with colleagues.

“The sites typically provide tools for users to download photos of interesting products found on retail Web sites to their profile page or blog. Users then share and discuss their findings with the community,” says Mr. Grau. “To buy an item, a shopper simply clicks through on the product photo to the retailer’s Web site, where the purchase is made.”

Read more - eMarketer

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