Social retailing: What do retailers need to know?

Why are we talking about it now?

With Facebook alone having more than 900 million members - all potential shoppers - social media has become a big battleground for retailers.

A number have launched high-profile social media campaigns in the past few months, from Topshop’s tie-up with Pinterest at Christmas to eBay’s new ‘curation tool’, eBay Collections, which it launched in the UK last week.

It is one of a suite of new features introduced by the etailer, and allows shoppers to hand-pick items from its site and display them by theme or category, such as home décor, fashion or colour.

What is a curation tool?

The internet is a mass of information, entertainment, shopping, news and the plain ridiculous. Web successes have often been those that can bring it all together in a way that is personalised to the consumer.

Pinterest, one of the slickest of these new curation sites, has enjoyed phenomenal success, and as businesses take a growing interest in the monetary potential of its offer, plenty more of its kind can be expected.

Curation can be a powerful tool for retailers with a broad offer such as eBay and Amazon, where customers tend to shop functionally rather than browsing to stumble upon something they want.

How does eBay collections work?

Connecting a website with social networking could be the way for retailers to make the most of the serious people power new media provides.

EBay Collections is about letting shoppers ‘curate’ their own customised display based on their unique tastes and then to share these shoppable collections.

Shoppers often seek out the advice of friends or those they admire and eBay Collections, first launched in the US last year, aims to capitalise on this.

Can we expect more retailers to follow suit?

Social media is having such an impact on retailers’ businesses that it is even changing the physical format of stores.

Virtual changing rooms that allow shoppers to ‘try clothes on’ and share them with their friends in real time are new ways to get customers interacting with a brand.

Companies are keen to build their brands around what shoppers want. Because interactive media is a crucial part of that, expect many more retailers to be social retailers before long.