Greenhouse Canada

Features Business Research
Study examines opinions on social commerce

May 31, 2011  By Amanda Ryder


socialcommerceNEWS HIGHLIGHT


Study examines opinions on social commerce

Shoppers are willing to interact with retailers through a variety of
social networks and retailers have limitless opportunities to capitalize
on the momentum, according to the 2011 Social Commerce Study.

May 27, 2011 – Shoppers are willing to interact with retailers through a
variety of social networks and retailers have limitless opportunities
to capitalize on the momentum, according to the 2011 Social Commerce
Study, a joint research project by Shop.org, comScore and Social
Shopping Labs. The report, which evaluates shopping directly influenced
by social media, polled 1,787 adult online shoppers in April 2011.

Advertisement

The survey found that:

  • 42 per cent of online consumers have “followed” a retailer
    proactively through Facebook, Twitter or a retailer’s blog, and the
    average person follows about six retailers.
  • The majority of respondents (58%) said they follow companies to
    find deals, while nearly half (49%) say they want to keep up to date on
    products. More than one-third also follow retailers for information on
    contests and events (39%).
  • More than half of Facebook users (56%) say they have clicked
    through to a retailer’s website because of a Facebook post, while over
    two-thirds of Twitter users (67%) say a post has spurred them to click
    through to a website.
  • One-third of shoppers say they would be likely to make a purchase directly from Facebook (35%) or Twitter (32%).
  • 42 per cent of Twitter users access the site on their mobile phone
    at least once a day, while the same is true for 34 per cent of Facebook
    users. In addition, about one-third (32%) of people view YouTube clips
    daily from their smartphones.
  • Nearly half of consumers (47%) have accessed customer reviews in
    store using their mobile device with men (55%) more likely to access
    these reviews in store than women (39%).
  • Eight in 10 (82%) online consumers are aware of group-buying sites,
    though only 19 per cent of survey respondents have actually made a
    purchase through one of the sites. Those who do leverage group-buying
    sites appear to be enthusiasts, as the majority of consumers (57%) have
    spent over $100 through these sites to date.
  • The majority of shoppers say they have purchased non-traditional
    retail items like food and drinks (18%), entertainment (16%), and
    personal care items (12%) through these sites.

The report also evaluated awareness and usage of location-based
applications like Foursquare, Yelp and Gowalla. On the basis of sheer
awareness among consumers, these platforms are still in the early growth
stage among consumers: Foursquare has the highest awareness (16%),
followed by Yelp (10%) and Gowalla (6%).


Print this page

Advertisement

Stories continue below