Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Assignment Two: Networking: The New Tool In Retailing

These days, you can't access any popular networking site without being subjected to retail advertisements or something that says "BUY THIS." Even when logging into facebook I not only notice the sidebar advertisements, I realize that I, myself, have taken part in advertising on facebook. When taking part in online shopping, I have been known to post items from various retailers onto my facebook page in order to share what I find interesting and fashionable with others. Why do I do this? Because I not only want to share the excitement of my newly found object of obsession, but I also want others to comment and tell me what they think about the item before I purchase it. I want feedback. And that's what social networking is about: feedback. Along with posting retail items on the wall of my profile, I also advertise for my place of employment, Tradehome Shoes. Every Thursday we get in hot, new merchandise. My thinking is: Why don't use free advertisement to my advantage on facebook, boost my sales, and end up ahead in the end? So with that in mind, I go through the store taking pictures with my iphone, and posting them to facebook. For example, I added this photo to facebook when we got new TOMS in:
Surprisingly, I got a lot of feedback from posting this picture. Not only did I get comments on the photo, but  many people came into the store to purchase TOMS who had been informed through my post.

In Cotton Inc.'s article, "Picking Up On Social Cues," the discussion is focused on retailing through different networking sites including blogs, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Polyvore, Flickr, Twitter, and others.The article also states, "Most men (59%) and women (71%) have browsed the Internet for clothes, according to the Cotton Incorporated Lifestyle Monitor™ survey." So, SURPRISE! Not only women are shopping online for apparel goods, but men alike. Sites like Polyvore and not only advertise for retailers, but give fashion advise, and let the customer pick and choose amongst items in order to create "sets" that showcase their hand-selected items and how they all correspond with one another. This enables the customer to make several purchases from different sites in order to get the given look.

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Not only are customers shopping at home on their computers, but now with the ability of smart phones, customers can shop from anywhere. Special apps allow customers to check out in a breeze and many retailers have special mobile sites that load faster and make shopping on your mobile device more accessible and less time consuming. As an iPhone user, I find myself browsing through mobile sites such as VictoriaSecret.com and UrbanOutfitters.com on my mobile device while waiting in lines, having downtime between classes, and at the gym. Because these sites at my demand by the touch of a finger, I find myself making purchases online and sharing my purchases via networking sites more and more.
To sum it all up, I believe that e-commerce and networking sites together are putting a new and interesting spin on consumerism. It's making the POS process faster, easier, and much more widespread. People who were not as  interested in fashion are being exposed to new and upcoming fashions rather they had intended on it or not, which is peaking interest in the world of fashion every second due to internet media. In a world were virtual networking is booming and technologies such a 3-D body scanning, virtual showrooms, and e-commerce is on the move, we can expect nothing more than growth and advancements in all aspects of the apparel industry.
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