How consumers shop today is much different than how they shopped even a few years ago. Rather than relying on brands for product advice, consumers are increasingly turning to friends and social networks for guidance before making purchases.
Can a community help you reach your customers? Consider Hong Kong Department Stores, a Finnish retailer, and their two e-commerce sites dedicated to fishing enthusiasts. The retailer is giving shoppers the convenience of online shopping with the added benefit of an enthusiastic social community. Its first online store has more than 25,000 members who’ve completed more than 10,000 product reviews to benefit a growing social ecosystem of anglers. As a result of this consumer-focused approach, Hong Kong has seen impressive online sales, but also increased sales in its physical stores.
By integrating social as part of your on-line experience you can create on-line communities and facilitate authentic conversations about your products, turning shoppers into brand advocates and increasing customer loyalty in the process. IBM Smarter Commerce provides solutions to help companies create user generated content such as blogs and social profiles for marketing and community building purposes that feed shoppers’ appetite for social content and their desire to engage with others while shopping on-line. For example, IBM WebSphere Commerce enables companies to easily integrate Facebook “like” and “share” actions and provide a means for shoppers to submit product ratings and reviews.
Read more about Hong Kong Department Stores at http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/39476.wss
