Social Shopping – A New Phenomenon Is Taking Over The World

With an ever increasing work load and busier lifestyles it is getting harder and harder to book a day out with the girls shopping, many of us are buying our fashion from the comfort of our own homes and literally shopping on our own. This can be lonely and hard work as how do you know what suits you? How do you know if it is a good buy or not without your best buying buddy with you? Here we would go through the definition of social shopping and why we should be using it:

What Is Social Shopping?
Wikipedia tell us ‘There are various ways for stores to use social shopping features. Some websites offer a combination of comparison shopping with social features. Others combine physical stores and social features, for example, allowing customers to share finds and deals from physical retailers through the phone and website and interact with users that have similar shopping interests’ Social shopping incorporates social networking and shopping, bringing them both together making shopping more social and concentrates on the sharing aspect of these networks.

Why Should I Be Using Social Shopping Sites?
Social shopping has many benefits, not only are you part of a designated female shopping community but you may also make lots of new friends and communicate with your existing ones through your finds. Social shopping sites can motivate you to participate in many different ways; some ask you to share on Facebook and twitter accounts but offer no reward for doing this other than the social reward of sharing and making new friends through recommending the best buys that you find. Some sites offer rewards for sharing products such as, if a specific product gets a lot of ‘likes’ discounts are offered and you can literally get big discounts by sharing with your new and existing friends. This encourages shoppers to share certain products for the benefit of both retailer and shopper. Other sites encourage the buyer or potential buyer to photo share the products, this enables the buyer to get comments on whether it will suit them or not and if it is a good price. This also enables other shoppers to find products without so much searching making it easier to literally share your finds.

Social Shopping Is The Best Way To Shop!
You can not only make new friends through social shopping but you can also speak to the sellers in real time, ask them questions about the products and sizing and get the best descriptions before you decide to buy. You are able to ask your friends about the products that you find and ask their opinions; it is just like shopping with your girlfriends! So, why are you shopping alone? Interactive shopping is the future of shopping for everyone!

Which Social Shopping Site Should I Be Using?
There are a few social shopping sites now up and running and no doubt as this phenomena really gains momentum then there will be many more. In my investigations I have found sites such as Pinterest where you are able to post pictures of your shopping finds very enjoyable but as you are unable to buy the fashion it seems to be lacking in this feature. ShopSimple on the other hand is similar to Pinterest where you can post your fashion finds but not only that, you can buy them too! You can create separate folders for your finds in your profile and even create them for others! You are able to comment, hashtag products, save (which is similar the Facebook ‘like’ button), add them to your collections and make whole outfits for you and your friends to share using this one site. This site is a highly addictive social shopping site which not only lets you post your fashion finds but let’s you share your products and post them to your Facebook and twitter accounts as well as your Pinterest walls! You can follow and be followed similar to Twitter and share your fashion with millions of others! This is the hottest social shopping site right now, so why are you still shopping alone?