Social Commerce becoming driving force for e-retail

Social commerce (sCommerce)  is a part of electronic commerce (eCommerce). sCommerce involves social media, online media or any such platform that supports social interaction between users or buyers.  It assists buying and selling of goods and services through online medium.

Yahoo started using this term while offering a platform for public wherein people can come and write about their experience with other online services.

From yahoo to now sCmmerce has widen its arms to various facets like-

• Ratings and reviews,
• User recommendations and referrals
• Social shopping tools (sharing the act of shopping online),
• Forums and communities, 
• Social media optimization
• Social applications and 
• Social advertising

Customers of online retail are now well aware of power of social commerce. In recent year sCommerce sites have seen very good growth and apparently becoming a essential part of eCommerce.

Small organization like timtara.com trying to avoid start their facebook page for certain reasons, but now they are forced to maintain their own identity on facebook.

Recent survey reflects 80 per cent of the buyer goes online to check reviews and rating of any offer before buying. Out of these 80 per cent 25 per cent made purchases as a direct result of having read about an item on a social media site of some kind. Facebook and twitter are most searched sites for reading and writing reviews.

Now one can imagine how powerful sCommerce is becoming day by day. It’s that part of eCommerce where no transaction happen but it’s a platform that drives transactions and becoming unavoidable.

Online shoppers want more traceable tracking system and personal assistance from Customer Care

Retailers hoping to boost online sales should focus on enabling consumers to track deliveries, talk via the web with customer service agents and offer video product demonstrations, suggest survey data from Limelight Networks.

The content delivery network based its findings on surveys of some 1,600 consumers in August. The three most important customer service features for online shoppers were the ability to track shipments through a personal computer or mobile device, with 79% of respondents calling for that; online customer service chat or instant messaging, 45%; and videos that show how to assemble or install products, 39%.

The consumers who demand the most online customer service are also those who spend the most on the web—that is, at least $301 annually for travel, apparel and consumer electronics Limelight says. 79% of travel shoppers rate online customer service extremely or very important for web shopping, with 65% of apparel shoppers and 59% of  consumer electronics shoppers saying the same thing.

Additionally, 53% of survey respondents who shop online more than once a month deem customer service as extremely or very important, compared with 45% who shop online once a month and 40% who shop online every four to six months.

That’s not say that all online shoppers want their hands held by customer service agents, the survey results suggest. 43% of respondents said that personalized, secure log-in features that store preferences and product model numbers would cut down on calls to customer service agents. 35% said a searchable database for videos and online manuals would do the same.

Source: - www.internetretailer.com

Add Shopping Cart on Facebook Profile Page

Recently facebook has introduces a new application for e commerce. Now along with the promotion of your deal you can provide add to cart and check out option without leaving facebook page.

Diapers.com and several related e-commerce brands, introduced a shopping component to its Diapers.com, Soap.com and BeautyBar.com Facebook pages. The new shopping mechanism enables users to access their stored shopping lists on Facebook or replenish items they’ve previously bought without having to leave Facebook.

Facebook has recognized potential of e commerce. Facebook has huge traffic. E commerce companies should use this feature well instead of creating their site and trying to pull traffic. There is no point building a good shop next to a big mall. Having a shop inside the mall will always produce better results.

visit facebook now - http://www.facebook.com/apps/directory.php

Nikhil Kunwar

A Best friend to Dog Lovers: DogSpot.in

DogSpot is one of its own kind of a initiative for your loving Dogs & Puppies Needs like Breeders, Dogs Products, Vets, Grooming, kennel and Dog related services in India.

It  is an online platform where dog owners can upload a profile of their dogs and search for a suitable partner for their pets. DogSpot also works as a social networking platform where users share, ask and advise as per their real life experiences with dogs. 

"DogSpot is a portal for dog lovers and owners in India. It allows you to create profiles of your dog, share tips, learn how to become a breeder, locate local vets, places to buy dog merchandise etc.

In a very short span of time website has 12000+ registered user and good number of visitors. DogSpot is catering to people who need a one stop solution provider for their pets. Rapid increase in registered users and visitors is strengthening the fact that there are patrons who were in need of such unique services provider and DogSpot is providing such unique services under one roof.

DogSpot also trying to venture into Dog e-Commerce and mVAS services related to pets.

Rana Atheya, founder DogSpot says, “If dogs are best friends of humans, Dogspot could be a best friend to dog Lovers.”

Visit DogSpot now- www.dogspot.in

Nikhil Kunwar

eBay to buy a German private-sale apparel site: ‘brands4friends.de’

www.ebay.com

After Google’s online apparel site viz Boutiques.com, eBay Inc. now buying Brands4friends, a Germany-based e-commerce operator that focuses on fashion and lifestyle items. eBay has signed an agreement to pay about $200 million for the site.

Now it seems like apparel is one category that is generating interest of retailers. eBay in its own research says that online shopping clubs account for approximately 20% of online fashion sales in Europe.

The acquisition also will give eBay the stakes now held by brands4friends in British online shopping club SecretSales.com and the Japanese version of the German site, brands4friends.jp. The online marketplace expects to close the deal in the first quarter of 2011.

The purchase will strengthen eBay’s apparel business in Europe, says Colin Sebastian, an analyst for Lazard Capital Markets. eBay already generates more than $5.4 billion annually in volume from clothing, shoes and accessories, and views the category as an important growth driver.

If apparel is becoming a success story in Europe & US, soon it will conquer hurdles in nation like India where e commerce is growing rapidly. Convenience will soon be bigger than ‘touch & feel’ factor in India.  

Nikhil Kunwar

Online Shoppers Going Mobile

m-commerce is becoming a buzz word now.  World has seen phenomenal 253% growth from year 2008 to 2009 and 143% from 2009 to 2010. Rapid adoption of Smart phones is one of the key driver for the growth.

In India mobile penetration is more rapid than Internet. There are more then 800 brands of mobile in India. In the race of capturing bigger pie companies are offering Smart and multimedia phone features at very cheap prices.

In such scenario in India m-commerce is one area which seems to  grow very rapidly and widely.

All companies in the e commerce space need to identify ways to venture into m- commerce as m-commerce is going to be must have for all e commerce companies. And Now is The Time !!

Nikhil Kunwar

Not for Sale !!: Google started an Apparel Shopping Site: Boutiques...

Not for Sale !!: Google started an Apparel Shopping Site: Boutiques...: "Visit Boutiques.com now Google Inc recently launched an online shopping website wherein shoppers can buy clothes and accessories from “bout..."

Google started an Apparel Shopping Site: Boutiques.com

Visit Boutiques.com now

Google Inc recently launched an online shopping website wherein shoppers can buy clothes and accessories from “boutique”. This site will offer personalized recommendations based on what it learns about each shopper’s preferences.

The site, Boutiques.com, enables shoppers to follow links from products pages to purchase items from online retailers. Google so far has opened the site only to women’s fashion and online apparel retailers. Manufacturers and designers can take part only if they also sell apparel online. Merchants pay to include their products on the site. Consumers can download a Boutiques.com app to their iPad tablet computers.

Shoppers can search products not only by item type—shoes, bags, clothing—but by genre (for instance, Classic, Boho, Edgy), silhouette, pattern, color families and sizes. Besides shopping in boutiques set up by celebrities such as the Olsen sisters and Carey Mulligan, consumers can create their own boutiques and have other shoppers offer product recommendations that match items in those personal- ized shops.

The launch of Boutiques.com follows Google’s acquisition in August of comparison shopping site Like.com, which Shah founded and led, and whose employees now work on Boutiques.com. Visitors to Like.com could search visually for products using photo-recognition technology, a capability that Google offers to shoppers at Boutiques.com.

e-Retail Equation

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