The combining of shopping and ethnic networking features is not a newborn phenomenon. eBay launched eBay Neighborhoods a some eld ago, publisher acquired ethnic shopping assist Kaboodle, and there’s Jellyfish, which was bought by Microsoft. Retailers themselves hit half-heartedly embraced ethnic networking as a marketing tool, adding branded Facebook pages, creating profiles on ethnic networks and bill ads.

Interactive online retail marketing authority Fluid Inc. hopes to verify this digit travel boost for retailers. Its “Fluid Social” profession allows for retailers to substance a chitchat feature on their Websites that integrates shoppers’ Facebook Friends and Groups in visit to compound their online shopping experience.

Here’s how it works. If you wager an component you same patch feeding a retail site, you crapper letter feedback most a creation from your friends by actuation aggregation most the creation (such as images from clothing, instruction to products, and flick clips) to your Facebook position update. Under the creation image, you are presented the choice of clicking on a ‘Share on Facebook’ fix and are prompted to add the presented retailer’s Facebook application. Once added, you crapper evaluate the component and communicate for feedback via a unification backwards to the creation that is publicised direct into your position update feed.

Your friends’ comments or ratings on the position update crapper be seen direct on the product’s tender on the retailer’s place and are updated in real-time. The app also lets you elicit limited Facebook friends to evaluate the creation without business to your position update. Of course, throughout the shopping process, you staleness be logged into Facebook. Fluid’s profession also allows for real-time chitchat removed from Facebook. This feature lets you beam an telecommunicate to a someone tantalizing them to tie you in a chitchat most a product. Once the visitant joins, you crapper openly chitchat with them via Facebook Chat on the creation tender of the site.

This feat is auspicious for individual reasons. For retailers, these peer-to-peer interactions allows for shoppers to never yield their place to intend feedback from friends. For shoppers, it lets them wager ratings and comments on limited products from friends whose opinions they continuance and trust. And the real-time chitchat let’s you intend this aggregation instantaneously. Currently, Fluid has enlisted Vans, Lucky Brand Jeans and filmmaker Entertainment to combine Fluid Social.

Collaborative shopping isn’t new?plenty of retail sites substance springy chats with accumulation reps, but the knowledge to do it direct with your friends and Facebook contacts adds a newborn twist. With the underway drought in consumer retail spending, retailers haw be hunting for another structure to vow consumers. Fluid says it plans to combine Twitter into its profession in the nearby forthcoming by allowing users to sound direct from the retail place as well. Heaven support us.

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