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Whoa! Social Media is even changing online shopping.

Online Shopping Goes From Solo Experience to Social Interaction
'Fluid Social' Technology Allows Friends to Make Real-Time Purchase Suggestions Via Facebook, IM

by Natalie Zmuda

Published: April 13, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Online shopping is about to get social.

For years retailers have struggled to improve their online experience, but shopping online is still a solo endeavor, devoid of the interaction many consumers seek. Groups of women aren't often found huddled around computer monitors for a shopping trip, after all.

Vans' site lets users design sneakers with friends.
Vans' site lets users design sneakers with friends.

Without that interaction and purchase validation, shoppers, plagued by indecision, often abandon retailers' sites, said Andy Lloyd, CEO of Fluid, a San Francisco-based interactive agency. But now, with the proliferation of social media and the popularization of instant-messaging services, Mr. Lloyd believes customers and retailers are primed for what his agency has dubbed "Fluid Social." In the coming weeks, two technologies -- friend-based merchandising that involves Facebook and collaborative shopping -- are being rolled out to big-name retailers, including Vans, Lucky Brand Jeans and Warner Entertainment.

The collaborative-shopping technology, which is now live at Vans.com, allows consumers who are building custom shoes on the site to chat with friends in real time about the product design. The customer clicks on a link saying, "Invite friends to design with you," giving them the ability to access friends through AIM, e-mail or any other service a link can be sent through. Assuming the friend is also at a computer, she can join a chat on the Vans site to give a thumbs up or down on the design, as well as make her own suggestions.

"Facebook has chat integrated, so chatting within a page is now something people are comfortable with," Mr. Lloyd said. "The ability to elicit someone's opinion at the point of decision is an important thing."

Preliminary success
In the week that the collaborative shopping technology has been live, Katie Bongiovanni, Vans' director of e-commerce, reports sales and traffic are up. "It's preliminary, but the customers who have talked to us about it have been really happy with it," she said. "This is really how our consumer lives online right now. The collaborative part of it is resonating."

While the technology has clear advantages for retailers doing custom products, Mr. Lloyd said it makes sense for general retailers as well. For example, Jansport will add the technology later this month, allowing customers to seek opinions on potential purchases and allow their friends to make alternative suggestions.

"Considered purchases" like furniture or appliances are a logical match with the collaborative-shopping technology. "That's a huge piece of this, because not a lot of people live alone. ... "And they're not going to buy a couch without [a] roommate or spouse saying yes or no," he said.

Ms. Bongiovanni added that, generally, more customers are expecting custom experiences and custom products, making the addition of Fluid Social a logical next step for the brand.

The second piece of technology, friend-based merchandising, is now live at Jansport.com. When shoppers are viewing a product, they are given the option to "Share on Facebook" by adding the "My Favorite Jansport" application. Once the shopper has added the application, she can invite friends to comment on and rate Jansport products. As the application gains steam, customers will be able to view comments and favorites from their friends. The technology does not use Facebook Connect at this point, though Mr. Lloyd said it is likely to in the future.

David Polinchok, chairman of Brand Experience Lab, said this type of interactivity could mean fewer abandoned shopping carts. "You get more people to make decisions on the spot," he said. "Right now, either you can chat with the retailer or save something [to look at later]. I've got a wish list at Amazon.com, but I probably haven't been to it in a year."

Definintely worth a read. The Five New Rules of Marketing.

Five new rules for marketing
The flat-earth, digitized world described by Unilever CMO Simon Clift is one in which the marketing norms have changed. Here are Ad Age's "New Rules." Feel free to argue or send us additional rules you think you should be added to the list.

1. Listening to consumers is more important than talking at them. As Mr. Clift said, "We may be ahead of our competitors, but we're most definitely behind consumers." The consumer is not a moron, she's the person defining your brand.

2. You can't hide the corporation behind the brand anymore -- or even fully separate the two. Even this editor's creaking computer only took 0.13 seconds to show that Philip Morris is owned by Altria Group. Welcome to radical transparency, where bad corporate behavior will damage your brands, and vice versa.

3. PR is a primary concern for every CMO and brand manager. If "marketing" and "PR" are not the same department, tear down the wall. Spend time deciding whether PR is underleveraged in your organization.

4. Cause marketing isn't about philanthropy, it's about "enlightened self-interest," as Mr. Clift puts it. That doesn't mean it doesn't count. Don't be ashamed of your profit motive, because great branding and doing good are increasingly one and the same.

5. Social media is not a strategy. You need to understand it, and you'll need to deploy it as a tactic. But remember that the social graph just makes it even more important that you have a good product. Put another way: The volume and quality of your earned media will be directly proportional to the impact and quality of your product and ideas.

Twitter is for old farts.

Twitter Traffic Explodes...And Not Being Driven by the Usual Suspects!

By Sarah Radwanick
Twitter seems to be just about everywhere these days, infiltrating pop culture and challenging traditional communication channels as people answer the simple Twitter question, “What are you doing?” Many people have hopped on the Twitter bandwagon - from businesses to celebrities to professional sports players to President Obama.

Over the past several months, we at comScore have watched how quickly traffic to Twitter has exploded. Worldwide visitors to Twitter approached 10 million in February, up an impressive 700+% vs. year ago. The past two months alone have seen worldwide visitors climb more than 5 million visitors. U.S. traffic growth has been just as dramatic, with Twitter reaching 4 million visitors in February, up more than 1,000% from a year ago.

Reuters reporter Alexei Oreskovic recently authored an interesting blog post about the demographics of Twitter users. What he discovered was that 18-24 year olds, the traditional social media early adopters, are actually 12 percent less likely than average to visit Twitter (Index of 88). It is the 25-54 year old crowd that is actually driving this trend. More specifically, 45-54 year olds are 36 percent more likely than average to visit Twitter, making them the highest indexing age group, followed by 25-34 year olds, who are 30 percent more likely.

The skew towards older visitors, although perhaps initially surprising for a social media site, actually makes more sense than you might think at first. With so many businesses using Twitter, along with the first generations of Internet users “growing up” and comfortable with technology, this is a sign that the traditional early adopter model might need to be revisited. Not only teenagers and college students can be counted among the “technologically inclined,” which means that trends are much more prone to take off in older age segments than they used to. And with those age 25 and older representing a much bigger segment of the population than the under 25 crowd, it might help explain why Twitter has expanded its reach so broadly so quickly over the past few months.

Keep an eye out for the March U.S. Twitter data, which should be available later this week. An early peek at the data suggests it’s going to be another HUGE month for the increasingly popular site. Follow comScore on Twitter and be the first to find out how the site did! You can also follow comScore chairman and co-founder Gian Fulgoni on Twitter to hear his thoughts and insights on the digital media industry at large.

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