Shopping Under the Influence (of Gwyneth Paltrow, Pinterest, and thousands of Brazilian Shoppers)
Write blog. Post. Update status: Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn. Like. Comment. Comment. +1. Comment. Tweet. @Reply. @Reply. Tweet. Post photo of typing blog on Instagram (Cross-post to Facebook and Twitter). Share on Tumblr. Pin photo to “Writing at Work” board. Share pin. Look at followers. Repin. Repin. Internal dialogue: “WHAT? Those orange shoes are AMAZING. Must. Have.” Repin to “Items to Seek Out Before They Run Out of My Size” board. Repin and share on Facebook. Like.
These days, our social media activities don’t just start or stop at monitoring our friend’s activities online. We share everything from the songs we’re currently listening to on Spotify, to the events we’re attending on LinkedIn, to the book we just finished on GoodReads. Social media is the ultimate information sharer — and the ultimate influencer among communities of friends, family, networking groups, and work associates. It makes everyone a tastemaker (and yes, you SHOULD also want these orange shoes! Everyone should. I bet they’d make me run faster . . . or, just run, at all.)
But the influence doesn’t just stop at the edge of our circle of friends. We get a new email newsletter packed with fun new products, and promptly want to share (personal fav: Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP –still waiting for GP to accept my friend request . . . ahem). And then there’s Pinterest, where users go beyond immediate friends and seek out others with similar tastes and interests, hoping to both be tipped off by the latest and greatest, and be the influencer with the best and the brightest new bauble to offer.
All of these interfaces combined inadvertently make us curators of what seems to become a personalized digital magazine . . . something we sit down and click through until something catches our eye.
So, what happens when social data expands beyond our digital spheres and is taken into the store? Does the weight of the influence remain the same, and will digital data push products out the door? Brazil retailer, C&A, is testing this very theory. As consumers “like” products online via Facebook, the actions are being tallied in real time and digitally displayed on the product hangers within the store. Gone are the days of guessing, “WHO would wear this?” . . . turns out, 34,526 people would.
Of course, there’s no accounting for taste, and one person’s “orange shoes” don’t always equate to another’s. Would consumers be more likely to purchase based on the digital masses, or the approval of a select few whose tastes more directly align with their own? We’ll have to wait and see. Until then, I’m left wondering what would happen if Facebook finally turned on the ever-requested, controversial “DISLIKE” button?
Would you be influenced by this type of groupthink in the store? Would you be more or less inclined to pick something up that so many others also adore? No matter if it works, it’s always fun to see the capabilities of technology change — and how we as a culture react to it, and cultivate its very development.
Now then . . . time to post, update, share, like, +1, and pin away.