Communications is at the heart of e-commerce and community. ~ Meg Whitman
Have you used your smart phone or tablet to enhance your shopping experience? Walmart, a powerhouse in the retail space, has been focused on making a splash in e-commerce, having been selected by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s Most Connected Companies. After all, the largest retailer already has a significant online customer pool from which to draw upon, with 1.5 billion annual website visits and 10% of its global customers shopping on the Internet. According to David Hatch’s reporting Walmart hopes to best its rival Amazon, by taking its “bricks and clicks” strategy a step further via its innovative research division WalmartLabs.
Retail is all about connections, noted Anand Rajaraman, an acclaimed Silicon Valley entrepreneur, during an interview on NBC’s Press:Here. To cash in on the shopping trends of mobile and social media, WalmartLabs is developing an e-commerce toolkit that maximizes the product to customer connection. It all starts with The Social Genome, Walmart’s search for elementary relationships amongst the social universe of tweets, Facebook messages, blog posts, YouTube videos; you name it. The result is an app such as Shopycat, designed to create a unique gifting experience by analyzing the likes of your Facebook friends. Not to mention, its social Get on the Shelf competition, offered contestants a golden opportunity to get their products on Walmart shelves.
So, do you check your cell phone for the latest deals? Have you used any social gifting apps, such as Shopycat? Share your thoughts on e-commerce and social media.
Vanaja R.
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shobhasky
/ Wednesday, August 1, 2012Social media’s benefit to E-commerce includes a larger audience of consumers to tweet and share on Facebook among their friends in real-time.
Nancy Arter
/ Wednesday, August 1, 2012It is so interesting that Walmart — the traditional bricks and mortar giant retailer — has recognized the need to innovate in the area of online shopping via social media. I’m sure that Amazon has taken notice and has their own “labs” version as to not be bested! : )
I love being able to interact via social media while shopping. I haven’t yet used the Shopycat app — but will definitely take a look at it. I do, however, check out Facebook and Twitter feeds of retailers or brands that I am considering purchasing to find great deals or take advantage of available coupons.
Great post!