Social Shopping & the Holiday Purchase Process

Posted by Cristina Lucero, Research Associate

This holiday, your participants will use social networks to both (1) learn about deals and (2) hear what others are saying about your products.  For instance, 58% of people follow retail brands on social networks to stay up-to-date on sales and promotions (eMarketer), while others use social networks to inform their purchasing decisions, gauging what their friends are saying about your products.

The Performics Social Shopping Study (Oct. 2011) revealed that social networks play a huge role in (1) the product research phase (2) the time right before a person commits to a purchase and (3) the time after the purchase (by sharing the experience).  66% of the survey respondents use social networks when searching for a product, 64% right before committing to purchasing and 59% after purchasing.  Additionally—according to eMarketer—57% of participants conducted some type of holiday shopping activity on a social network in 2010:

The most important insight from these trends is that what your current customers are saying on the social networks can make or break whether their friends become your customers.  Social networks are a real-time feedback loop.  To be successful this holiday, brands must employ strategies to listen to what their participants are saying on the social networks, quickly respond to negative feedback and amplify positive feedback.