RetailWire recently featured an interesting interview with Eui Chung, divisional VP and general manager for social commerce at Sears Holdings about how the multichannel retailer is growing socially in an effort to engage itscustomers. Consistently ranked as one of the top ecommerce sites, Sears continues to expand the social commerce and interactive features of its online retail store -- from the launch of the My Sears Community back in 2009 to the retailer’s system for responding to customers, whether the feedback comes from Facebook, Twitter, blogs or any of its websites. One of the most interesting features, in my opinion is the ability for customers to interact directly with Sears staff: Whenever a customer logs in to Sears.com, they have the ability to chat with a personal shopper representative.
The goal is to improve the shopping experience for the customer, but the result is also a deeper relationship between the retailer and its shoppers, and consequently greater brand loyalty. These tools enable Sears to communicate more often and in-real time with its customers, be it responding to their questions or walking them through a sale on the site. In the big ticket retail category, where making a customer feel comfortable with clicking to purchase is imperative, this type of one-on-one and immediate interaction can be invaluable. Effectively, it’s the in-store shopping experience transported into the digital space.
Many retailers are exploring these types of functionalities on their sites, but I think the potential is particularly interesting for big ticket retailers whose customers are often looking for as much product information as possible during their online shopping experience. I'm interested in hearing how other folks out there are looking to incorporate social commerce into their online retail sites. How are these types of tools affecting your customers' experiences or your organization's multichannel communication?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
The goal is to improve the shopping experience for the customer, but the result is also a deeper relationship between the retailer and its shoppers, and consequently greater brand loyalty. These tools enable Sears to communicate more often and in-real time with its customers, be it responding to their questions or walking them through a sale on the site. In the big ticket retail category, where making a customer feel comfortable with clicking to purchase is imperative, this type of one-on-one and immediate interaction can be invaluable. Effectively, it’s the in-store shopping experience transported into the digital space.
Many retailers are exploring these types of functionalities on their sites, but I think the potential is particularly interesting for big ticket retailers whose customers are often looking for as much product information as possible during their online shopping experience. I'm interested in hearing how other folks out there are looking to incorporate social commerce into their online retail sites. How are these types of tools affecting your customers' experiences or your organization's multichannel communication?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
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