Mega e-tailer Amazon recently jumped on the social bandwagon by allowing shoppers to connect their accounts with their Facebook profiles, proving that nowadays, it seems like everything is linked together. Los Angeles based Vans and Warner Entertainment are also on board, providing similar collaborative shopping tools on their sites. Most small e-commerce sites don’t have the robust budget that Amazon and Warner do, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t easier ways to offer your shoppers an interactive experience. Instead of keeping shopping as a solo experience, provide tools that offer coveted interaction with friends and family. This can be done by simply offering a share link (i.e. email, blog, article, etc.) Another option is to let users design their own product through Flash or Java tools, and then send the finished product to a friend via email or ecard. This friend-based merchandising is great for getting product feedback and increasing traffic to the destination site. Another route is to allow shoppers to send invitations to friends and family. Many specialty clothing sites offer a cost-savings or special promotion if you can get 5 or 10 of your friends to sign-up. This word-of-mouth marketing has been highly effective. Website Jungle specializes in e-commerce websites for Los Angeles based businesses, and has worked with clients across the U.S. to implement e-tail marketing strategies that boost traffic, connect brands to their customers, and build long-term relationships with consumers. To find out more, drop us a line or shoot us an email and we’ll get back to you.
