This concept can be applied to any retail store. I am currently working with a few retail stores to test this concept with early adopters and have created this feature in one of my previous startups. I am writing this using Macy's and Target.com as an example.
Macy's Inc is a historical department store chain in the US which owns 2 store chains, Macy's and Bloomingdale's. Total number of Macy's locations is 728.
I am using this item from Macy's as an example for this blog.
The same concept can also be applied to other stores like Target.com. I am using this item from Target.com as an example.
When a customer visits any product page on Target.com, he or she can see the conversations about that product, including reviews or pictures from social media.
Benefits to users:
Users can see what other people think about the product on social media and also about product trends. Millennials, especially, tend to buy products that their online friends and acquaintances are talking about. This trend is further explained by the rise of influencer-driven sales.
Benefits to merchants:
This concept might create enough user engagement to keep users longer on the merchant's website. Chances are higher that the visit will lead to a purchase when users can see social comments regarding the product directly on the product page. This, social media reviews, can definitely help merchants engage with customers on par with Amazon reviews.
Target's eCommerce sales in 2016 was around $3B and total revenue in 2016 was around $70B. I believe tracking social media posts might give a boost to online sales. I will write more in the next article about what else retailers can do to capture social media influence to drive more traffic to their websites.
If Target or Macy's will implement this feature, it will cost them following (rough estimates):
Customers' Validation / Customer Interview cost - $100,000
Collect user test data and online feedback to validate this concept - $100,000
Wireframe + Mockup + Prototype cost - $7,000
Design cost - $50,000
Development cost - $2,000,000
Collect metrics after launch - $900,000
How much increase in sales is possible using this new concept?
Total number of social media posts online - ~10T (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and others)
Total number of eCommerce related social media posts online - ~1T
There is no similar solution available right now. So, I can not give any conservative estimates. But my optimistic estimate is at-least 5% conversion.
It is sure worth trying as this feature will help eCommerce companies bring more users to their website and hence experience an increase in sales.
This will surely impact these metrics:
Website visits, Number of new visitors, Returning users, CAC, CLV
I hope that this fostered food for thought. If you have any questions, tweet me @jwalantpatel. If you like my blog, please subscribe.
Macy's Inc is a historical department store chain in the US which owns 2 store chains, Macy's and Bloomingdale's. Total number of Macy's locations is 728.
When user checks any product on Macy's, social media comments about that product would be displayed on the product page itself as shown in the image below.
 |
| Social Media updates for any product on Macy's |
The same concept can also be applied to other stores like Target.com. I am using this item from Target.com as an example.
When a customer visits any product page on Target.com, he or she can see the conversations about that product, including reviews or pictures from social media.
 |
| Option 1 - Tracking Social Media for any product on Target.com |
 |
| Option 2 - Social Media updates for any product on Target.com |
Users can see what other people think about the product on social media and also about product trends. Millennials, especially, tend to buy products that their online friends and acquaintances are talking about. This trend is further explained by the rise of influencer-driven sales.
Benefits to merchants:
This concept might create enough user engagement to keep users longer on the merchant's website. Chances are higher that the visit will lead to a purchase when users can see social comments regarding the product directly on the product page. This, social media reviews, can definitely help merchants engage with customers on par with Amazon reviews.
Target's eCommerce sales in 2016 was around $3B and total revenue in 2016 was around $70B. I believe tracking social media posts might give a boost to online sales. I will write more in the next article about what else retailers can do to capture social media influence to drive more traffic to their websites.
If Target or Macy's will implement this feature, it will cost them following (rough estimates):
Customers' Validation / Customer Interview cost - $100,000
Collect user test data and online feedback to validate this concept - $100,000
Wireframe + Mockup + Prototype cost - $7,000
Design cost - $50,000
Development cost - $2,000,000
Collect metrics after launch - $900,000
How much increase in sales is possible using this new concept?
Total number of social media posts online - ~10T (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and others)
Total number of eCommerce related social media posts online - ~1T
There is no similar solution available right now. So, I can not give any conservative estimates. But my optimistic estimate is at-least 5% conversion.
It is sure worth trying as this feature will help eCommerce companies bring more users to their website and hence experience an increase in sales.
This will surely impact these metrics:
Website visits, Number of new visitors, Returning users, CAC, CLV
I hope that this fostered food for thought. If you have any questions, tweet me @jwalantpatel. If you like my blog, please subscribe.
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