01-07-2006, 10:38 AM
Quote:The rise of social networks is having a positive impact on ecommerce in the US. Along with demographic changes and growing broadband penetration, it is one of the key factors that drove online shopping spending up by 25 percent in 2005.
Retailers also stand to benefit from online communities in several important ways:
* Consumers can be a source of feedback (similar to a focus group) on product design and features, marketing and advertising campaigns, and how well customer service and support are performing, which can lead to innovation for a retailer
* Word of mouth (i.e., viral marketing) is free advertising and increases the visibility of niche retailers and products
* Increased website traffic, a common effect of viral marketing, inevitably brings with it more ad dollars
* Increased sales can come from harnessing techniques based on personal preferences such as collaborative filtering; at a more advanced level, retailers strive for a higher degree of relevance in matching the knowledge of one person to someone of like interests who has a need to know (the "twinsumer" concept)
full article: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/7744.asp