Bring the Social Experience to Life

The social-sphere of twitter, ratings & reviews, blogs, etc. are as popular as Cabbage Patch Kids and jelly-bracelets were in my era, yet they still aren’t available at Target or Macy’s. Yet they can and should be; and retailers just have to start thinking of how to do this – how to make these part of the tangible in-store experience. Why?

Last week as I was shopping at Babies “R”Us, I noticed a guy carrying a laptop around. I thought he was a store employee and approached him to ask a question. He responded by saying, “No, I don’t work here; I just want to be able to read the customer ratings & reviews while I shop.” His comment really made me think. Why isn’t this social experience that we have with retailers online a part of their in-store experience as well? Wouldn’t it help better bridge the gap between online and offline for a more seamless, consistent shopping experience? Over the past several years, marketers have made tremendous progress integrating online and offline marketing, e.g. using email coupons to drive shoppers to the store, etc. Now it is time to make the actual shopping experience more integrated – especially with the power and popularity of social media components like ratings & reviews.

In a live store you are able to touch, handle and experience a product first hand. To combine this with the online social interaction of learning what other customers felt and experienced with a product could really make the shopping experience complete. Retailers could do this with kiosks stationed around the store, with signs by highly rated customer products, “star” ratings on product shelves and that’s just the taste of the many possibilities. Retailers like Babies “R”Us and Target who have established, widely used online rating & review systems could hugely benefit from such integration.  Also, sellers of high ticket items such as car dealers, or home, appliance, and furniture retailers could also reap the rewards.

And, you may ask, what about that ever persistent quandary of negative feedback? This integration may actually offer retailers another way to tackle that first hand. What better way to combat unsatisfactory commentary, than having your sales people demonstrate a product and prove it’s real value to customers – live!

Beyond, creating an integrated shopping experience, this would help marketers answer the core issue of trust.  Consumers no longer trust brands as they once did – they trust each other – and that goes for the in-store experience as well. When you are shopping, you want to know, “how did other customers like me feel about this product?” Wouldn’t this type of integrated experience make you feel more comfortable with the retailer – wouldn’t it encourage you to make the purchase?