Social Shopping Websites
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You have heard about social media marketing, but have you heard of social shopping? At Websites for Jewelers we have been discussing social media marketing for your jewelry website a lot over the last several weeks. We have urged our readers and our clients to create profiles of their businesses in social networking websites like Facebook and LinkedIn, and have detailed the myriad reasons that social media marketing is crucial for your business, like in our article titled, “Social Media Marketing is a Must for Jewelry Websites.” Today, we are discussing a new marketing opportunity to come from the huge business of social networking: social shopping websites.
Unsure what social shopping websites are? As defined by Wikipedia, “Social Shopping is a method of e-commerce where shoppers’ friends become involved in the shopping experience. Social shopping attempts use technology to mimic the social interactions found in physical malls and stores.” Where people use Facebook to connect with the daily lives of their friends and LinkedIn to maintain business relationships, people use social shopping sites to scout out the latest styles, the best deals, and consumer reviews, and share this information with their friends. Imagine a new group of websites that have the sole purpose of exposing products and exchanging information about them! This is creating a HUGE opportunity for the marketing of your jewelry website.
There are several types of social shopping websites: group shopping site, social consumer review sites, social marketplaces, and shopping communities.
Group Shopping Sites: These are sites that allow people to come together and purchase large quantities of an item in order to receive a bulk discount. Some examples are: Groupon, Kactoos, and BuyWithMe.
Social Consumer Review Sites: Some of the most popular sites on the Internet have been consumer review sites that allow people to find out about the performance of various products that they want to buy, the most traditional being Amazon. There is a new breed popping up that adds a more social aspect to the communication and users can not only read posted reviews, but also engage with other shoppers.
Social Marketplaces: Social marketplaces are much like the website Etsy, where sellers can come together in an online version of a farmers market or bazaar. Some small jewelry companies have been able to create a following through sites like Etsy, but eventually find that they need their own e-commerce site to continue to grow. Social marketplaces are great for those that sell as a hobby.
Shopping Communities: Largely dominated by the fashion industry (AKA great for jewelry websites) these types of social shopping websites provide consumers with the ability to create shopping lists, exchange information about products, styles, discounts, and personal experiences. Rena Klingenberg of Home Jewelry Business Success Tips has an excellent article on social shopping websites and recommends the following sites for those in the jewelry business: Polyvore, StyleHive, StyleFeeder, ThisNext, and Wists. Kaboodle is another shopping community that we love to recommend. It was launched in 2006 and has over one million users to date. Kaboodle allows users to create an online personal catalog of everything they want to buy on the Internet and share this information with friends. Users can also create gift lists, write a blog, and ask other’s opinions about items they wish to buy.
How can you harness these social shopping websites for marketing your online jewelry business? Look for more information in our next post titled, “Marketing your Jewelry Website with Social Shopping Websites.”
Related articles
- 7 Social Shopping Sites that worth your time (seoservicesgroup.com)
- The rise of social shopping in 2011: 7 examples of where it is going (rossdawsonblog.com)
- 10 Social Shopping Sites to Watch in 2011 Shopper’s Guide (apartmenttherapy.com)
Tags: jewelry websites, Social shopping, social shopping websites, websites for jewelers
