Social Commerce

Hey everyone, this week we are covering Chapter 8, this chapter focuses on social commerce, which is an extension of e-commerce where products are purchase online through social media or a social media application. It also covers how reviews can influence consumers, and how the reviewer uses descriptive explanations as to why they rated a product a certain way. The chapter also covers the different psychological reasons that influence customers to make certain purchases, such as, social proof, authority, affinity, scarcity, consistency, and reciprocity.

The strengths for the chapter are that it covered how social media has changed the way people shop, how customer reviews are really an important part of an online shoppers experience and how retailers can use this information to improve customer service, and all the psychological influences that motivate consumers to purchase products. The weakness of the chapter would be in how little they covered how social commerce benefits marketers, there is a short breakdown of the benefits, but I would have liked those topics to be elaborated on more. 

I have not shopped through social media ads, usually they pop up as a banner of something I have already been looking at on another app, so I don’t feel the need to click on the ad to look at the product. I see some ads on Facebook to buy custom t-shirts, but that’s not really my thing unless it’s for an organization I’m in or a run that I’ve participated in that goes to charity.

I do prefer to shop online, most of the places that I like to buy things don’t have a physical location in my area so buying online is my only option. I actually base some of my buying decisions on things I find on blogs that I’ve found through Pinterest or YouTube that I really like and I could get good use out of. I also really enjoy physically going shopping because I’m a very visual and sensory person so I like seeing the clothes I’m looking for and feeling the texture of the fabric. Before I even go to a store though I like to look online and narrow down the things that I can get the most utility out of, I find that there are so many options and trends that if I can narrow down what I really want to buy it alleviates any stress or anxiety I get from wondering aimlessly through stores without any direction.

Reviews from actual everyday people influences me way more than an expert, because customers use the product, they have applicable experience to give a review based on what they think and observed from actively using the product. 

I think pick lists is a fun aspect of social shopping, it gives the customer the opportunity to share their wishlist with others that they may not be able to buy for themselves or could be used to help others buy gifts for that person for their birthday or Christmas. Popularity filters would be more of a utility application, because it shows consumers what other people are buying or what other customers have added to their favorites to purchase later or repurchase. Ultimately I think that social shoppers find utility to be more important, because having so many options available and not being able to physically see the products, they want to spend their time finding items that they will get good use out of and won’t be a waste of their time by having to go through the process of returning it.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!