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08/02/2012 -
Social commerce sites that personalize the shopping experience for customers are taking off. Pinterest, the social bookmarking website where consumers can post products and services they like and share them with their networks, has grown by 429 percent over the last four months, and doesn't appear to be slowing down. During a single week last December, 11 million users visited the site.Social commerce sites like Pinterest are the actualization of personalized online shopping experiences, according to advisor Nir Eyal, writing for Tech Crunch. They have developed the algorithm for matching customers to products, something the predecessors, including Amazon, weren't quite able to master, the source reports.
Currently, Pinterest mostly serves as a way to drive traffic to retailers sites. The platform has a gift shop that could expand in the future, but sales are generally processed off-site through independent merchant accounts.
Retail stores can participate in the trend by optimizing online stores for social commerce. Pictures are extremely important on the platform as a way to drive consumers to a business' website. Once there, customers can be encouraged to buy products with a convenient and user-friendly payment processor. To boost online sales, businesses can open accounts on social commerce sites and invest in online payment services that will allow consumers to easily and quickly pay for items on their websites.
