Page 233 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

Case 7.1: EC Application: Polyvore: A Trendsetter in Social Shopping 217

images of real or imaginary goods. These include, but are not Social Shopping in the Near Future
limited to, properties and merchandise on Second Life (such
as virtual mobile phones to equip your avatar), and a large Imagine this scenario: A retailer will ask you to log in with
number of items sold in multiplayer games on social networks Facebook on your mobile device as soon as you step into a
(e.g., FarmVille on Facebook). physical store. Many of Facebook’s partners have custom
Facebook applications (Partner Apps) that users can down-
The Virtual Economy load through their app stores, including Blackberry and
Windows Phone (see facebook.com/mobile).
A virtual economy is an emerging economy existing in sev- In this way users can receive customized recommendations
eral virtual worlds, where people exchange virtual goods fre- on their mobile phones. You can expect that your friends who
quently related to an Internet game or to a virtual business. have been in that store will indicate electronically, which clothes
People go there primarily for entertainment. However, some may be the best fit for you (e.g., using “likes”), then walk in and
people trade their virtual goods or properties. A virtual prop- find what to buy. What about the risks? Privacy is a concern to
erty can be any resource that is controlled by virtual objects, many, but less important to “Millennials” who frequently share
avatars, or user accounts. For the characteristics of these their experiences with others. In addition, sometimes people do
properties, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_economy. not need to reveal their full identity on an in-store screen. See a
related video titled “The Future of Shopping” (48 s) at youtube.
Why People Buy Virtual Goods com/watch?v=R_TAP0OY1Bk.
For example, when you walk into a dressing room in a
There are several reasons why people buy virtual goods. For department store, the mirror reflects your image, but you also
example, many people in China buy virtual properties see the images of apparel items (you like and certain) celebri-
because they cannot afford to buy properties in the real ties wear, all on an interactive display. A webcam also projects
world. According to Savitz (2011), there are four major rea- an image of a consumer wearing the item on a website, for
sons for such purchases made in any country: everyone to see. This creates an interaction between the con-
sumers inside the store and their social network (friends) out-
1. Generating special experiences. side the store. The technology behind this system uses RFID
2. Generating emotions. (Radio Frequency Identification), and has already been tried
3. Small purchases make people happier. by the Prada store in New York City for showing customers
4. Virtual goods are low cost and low hassle. which shoes and purses would go with the clothes they are
trying on in the dressing room. You can watch a video titled
Future Store “Smart Dressing Room” (2:53 min) of how a
Real-Time Online Shopping “smart” dressing room works at youtube.com/watch?v=0VII-
xdg5Ak&feature=related. Note that due to privacy concerns,
In real-time online shopping, shoppers can log onto a site Prada (and others) discontinued their RFID experiments.
and then either connect with Facebook or with another social
network instantly from a smartphone or computer, or invite
their friends and family via Twitter or e-mail. Friends shop
online together at the same time, exchanging ideas and com- SECTION 7.4 REVIEW QUESTIONS
paring experiences.
Some real-time shopping platforms are Facebook’s social 1. Define social shopping and describe its drivers.
graph-based shopping platforms. Another player in this area 2. List the major benefits of social shopping.
is BevyUP (see bevyup.com/resources and samesurf.com/ 3. List the major models of social shopping. Briefly describe
about.html). These empower multiple users to share their their functionalities.
experiences in real time. 4. Describe ratings, reviews, and recommendations.
For more on how Facebook “likes” and social plug-ins 5. Define group buying.
help business websites, see searchengineland.com/by-the- 6. Define social communities and social clubs as they
numbers-how-facebook-says-likes-social-plugins- help- relate to marketing. How do they work?
websites-76061. 7. Define social marketplaces. What is going on there?
Note: Facebook is considering building a shopping mall 8. Describe the major shopping aids.
to compete with Amazon.com. Facebook will add a strong 9. Describe shopping for virtual goods.
social flavor to the mall (see King 2015). 10. Describe social shopping in the near future.