From E-commerce to We-commerce

Seeing is buying. Maybe it works online too? Internet consultancy bureau Jungle Minds noticed that an increasing number of web stores offer the possibility to go shopping with friends. Social shopping is hot! A large number of web stores indeed show potential customers relevant products: as a matter of fact, the best way to win your customers’ trust is to provide them with other customers’ opinions.

How can you do that? Wehkamp.nl, for instance, has its “Spot de Shopper” function. This function continuously shows you other purchases via Google Maps: “A customer from Breda just bought a refrigerator”. Of course, potential customers do not track purchases incessantly, but this system inspires confidence because of the very large amount of transactions.

Reviews have been known for quite some time now. These are opinions of other people who already bought the item that you plan to purchase. Sometimes, there are endless lists of horribly written reviews and you do not have time to read them all. That is why Amazon recently started offering the possibility to filter showing only the results for features that you find interesting, such as “battery life”.

This makes online shopping a social activity as well. We choose our stores and products more and more according to other people’s opinions. It is the power of the masses in the ever more social web stores. The conclusion for web stores is the following: highlight your satisfied customers’ experiences and these customers will be your best salespersons.