The merchants of ‘social’ are redefining how we shop

By Neha Khera

April 17, 2012

Shopping has continued to evolve over the years, from ancient-day bazaars where people would trade and barter for goods, to modern-day websites where people purchase products with the click of a mouse.

And as we look toward the next phase of shopping, we see e-commerce begin to mesh with social networking, wherein people use their friends, family and the community at large to browse products, make purchase decisions and secure deals. This is the rise of what’s known as social commerce.

To better understand this trend, which Mark Zuckerberg touts as being the “next big thing,” we turned to six MaRS client companies that have developed unique tools and platforms to facilitate social shopping experiences. We’ve documented their insights in Merchants of Social: Exploring the use of social technologies to drive commerce.

The companies profiled include:

• ideacious – Group buying
• Shopcaster – Local commerce
• Simply Good Technologies – Digital coupons
• SocialGift – Social gift giving
• uknowa – Ratings & reviews
• Uniiverse – Peer-to-peer marketplace

And while social commerce still makes up a small subset of the total retail market, we feel it is undoubtedly poised for growth because at the end of the day, shopping is inherently a social activity. The only difference is that collaborative shopping experiences are now being seamlessly shifted from the physical world into the digital world.

Register for the event The Social Consumer: Cashing in on the social graph – MaRS Market Insights.

Tags: digital media, e-commerce, Market Intelligence, MaRS Market Insights, social media, web

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