Shoppers are not the most decisive people when it comes to purchase planning, often needing third-party advice, validation, and recommendations from both friends and strangers alike. Shopper engagement thus becomes an important priority for retailers, lest doubtful shoppers drop off to third-party platforms (such as consumer review portals) to get the information that they want or, worse, to competing online stores that can offer a more holistic shopping experience.

Consumers consulting each other as a form of product research is common; take a look at the overwhelming list of “which should I buy” threads on Yahoo! Answers here. Most shoppers browsing an ecommerce website have a need for reassurance and third-party information in general, or at least overwhelming social proof, before they complete a purchase or even contemplate it. Any opportunity for shoppers to obtain unbiased, diverse consumer research information would thus be immensely helpful in building trust, which is a critical differentiator in the cut-throat online retail sector.

Since consumers are already helping one another make better buying decisions, or practicing social commerce, there lies an opportunity in baking this common experience into the shopping experience, right on the retailer’s own platform. One plausible tactic is to allow shoppers to consult one another on purchase decision-making, in real-time or otherwise, while still retaining them on the storefront. This appraoch (and indeed our approach) departs considerably from the idea of merely installing a message board that is separate from the sales funnel. The value proposition of this onsite social commerce strategy is two-fold: 1) expanding the traditional online storefront into a platform for consumer research leads to a tremendous increase in engagement and brand equity (e.g. the Amazon effect), and 2) shoppers with access to third-party information are more confident buyers, thus letting them complete their purchase during their moment of assurance is likely to save a non-trivial amount of sales that could otherwise have gone to a competitor.

This has long been a possibility that is largely ignored by the change-resistant ecommerce industry, despite the growing variety of social technologies available for socializing the storefront. Perhaps now is a good time to take a bold step forward and essentially give shoppers what they have always wanted.