Social Technology Quarterly Issue 06

7/30/2019 Social Technology Quarterly Issue 06

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October to December 2012

Colours and

Brand Identity

The Consumer

Generated Funnel

Ethics and Social

Commerce

Social TechnologyQuarterly06

06 2012Kuliza Technologies Ltd.

All Rights Reserved.

Making Loyalty

Programs Work


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Editorial

With a medley of platforms available to buyers today thathave similar prices and offers, brands are focusing ongenerating loyalty. Brands online are no longer ghtingonly in terms of price, presence, or product range. Theyare battling it out to have inuential shoppers and brandadvocates to ensure repeat purchases and build a loyal

community of such shoppers.

In the era of social-dened commerce, a brand thatgarners loyalists and not fans alone, runs campaignsfor experiences and not marketing alone, is the mostpopular, visited, and shopped-at destination. It is onthese shopping platforms one observes that loyalty isnot a passive activity, but an active one with the kind of

deluge and trafc recorded in information sharing.

Social is the genome of commerce. Social createslasting and remarkable relationships that increasepropensity to repurchase and recommend. A loyaltycard is no longer a plastic card for accumulating pointson repeat purchases; there are now designs for loyaltyprograms that are based on insights from various eldsthat redene methods of driving loyalty. While designingand using big amounts of data, careful consideration ofcode of ethics will determine whether social commerce isgoing to be as effective as predicted. Lifestyles, cultures,and practices too translate into understanding needs ofpeople inuenced by social commerce. All these cometogether and contribute to what social commerce aimsat: brand advocacy and loyalty, created through word of

mouth. The brand that has reliable word of mouth is theone with a large, voluble community of loyal customers

and least number of advertising campaigns.

This is the difference between online commerce andsocial commerce done well.

Diarmaid Byrne

Vandana U.

EditorsSocial Technology Quarterly 06

The Social Technology Quarterly is a r esearch

publication that distills the signal from the noise in the

uid social and mobile web domain. From multiple

perspectives it analyzes commerce, campaigns,

and communities through the lenses of business,

technology, design, and behaviour.

Social as a Driver of LoyaltyVandana U.

Rebrandings of Technology CompaniesAmit Mirchandani

Impact of Colours on Brand IdentityAnindya Kundu

The Proof is in the ExperienceVandana U.

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Making Loyalty Programs WorkDiarmaid Byrne

Thinking Big DataSiddharth Balaravi

Experience ShoppingAnish Dasgupta

The Consumer Generated FunnelDiarmaid Byrne

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30

33

36

Ethics and Social CommerceSaswati Mitra Saha

The Maker MovementPayal Shah

Access Greater than OwnershipKaushal Sarda

Learning by Keeping your Eyes OpenNehal Shah

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44

48

50

Campaigns

Commerce

Communities


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Social Technology Quarterly and the STQ logo are trademarks of Kuliza

Technologies Ltd. Their reproducion without the proper permissions is

unlawful.

Copyright 2012 Kuliza Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

You are free to share and make derivative works of this publication

only for non-commercial purposes and under the conditions that you

appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license

identical to this one.

Social Technology Quarterly 06

October to December 2012

Published by Kuliza Technologies Ltd.

Printed by Print 2 Last Solutions

#7 Poorvi, 1st Cross, Shirdisai Nagar

Bangalore 560 077

www.print2last.com

Subscribe

to Social Technology Quarterly at:

stq.kuliza.com

Contributors

Amit Mirchandani

Chief Creative Ofcer at Kuliza & MD at Lucid Design

Anindya Kundu

Visual Designer at Kuliza

Anish Dasgupta

Marketing Manager at Kuliza

Diarmaid Byrne

Chief People Ofcer at Kuliza

Kaushal Sarda

Chief Product Ofcer at Kuliza

Nehal Shah

Design Researcher

Payal Shah

Co-founder and Maker-at-Large at makesplash.es

Saswati Saha Mitra

Consumer Behaviourist

Siddharth Balaravi

Co-founder of GetJugaad

Vandana U.

Marketing & Communications Specialist at Kuliza

Diarmaid ByrneEditor

[email protected]

Vandana U.Editor

[email protected]

Amit Mirchandani Design

Lucid Design India Pvt. Ltd.

www.lucid.co.in Personal is social,

behaviour is social,

and loyalty is social.

Now all commerce is

social.

Social TechnologyQuarterly06


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Brands are going social with the r ight

mix of communications technology andconsumer values. Social is a catalyst that

is driving unprecedented loyalty, built

not at one stage but across various stages

and elements of the shopping process.

byVandana U.

Photo Credit:zion fction

Social as aDriver ofLoyalty

In the age of social commerce, where traditional e-commerce is no

more even a nomenclature, loyalty seems to spell a new pattern with

new trends. With several factors determining shopping- ranging from

best prices, proximity, recommendations, to mood-swings even; it is

necessary to understand not only how loyalty and social commerce

go hand in hand but understand how social is a driver of loyalty. It

goes without saying that shopping has always been a social activity. A

lot of denitions place social commerce under the huge umbrella term

of e-commerce. Currently, as dened by Renata Gonalves Curty and

Ping Zhang, Social commerce is broadly considered to encompass

commerce activities mediated by social media where people do

commerce or intentionally explore commerce opportunities by

participating and/or engaging in a collaborative online environment.

To the process of buying and selling online, social adds layers of

conversations and interactions between consumers, communities,

and businesses. These conversations are the new points-of-sales.

Businesses are leveraging social, making it highly integrated and

highly relevant to see new growth. The assumption is obvious: if

social elements are necessary to drive in engagement, they are vital

to driving loyalty too.

Being Social

The ontology of online commerce now is social as the smart-

technology-driven buyer is no longer merely a buyer nor is passive.

The buyer today is socially nourished through elements such as

sharing, likes, conversations, reviews, and interests. The use of social

Campaigns
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zionfiction/7465637256/http://www.flickr.com/photos/zionfiction/7465637256/


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Social Technology Quarterly 06Kulizanetwork serves social interaction and encourages user contribution

throughout the purchase process - right from research to activities

for post the purchase. There is a sure transfer of power because

advertising alone would not generate that much needed buzz.

Whether one terms it social, viral or calls it word of mouth, sharing

is an unstoppable activity.

A brand that goes social brings in the elements that revolve around a

customer not only in a terms of being a part of the target market but

include the entire social world of the shopper. Interests, behaviours,

shopping patterns, activities of the shopper and that of the shoppers

friend circle are all roped in. Customers have varied and new ways

to research, compare, evaluate, purchase, and provide feedback on

products and services. The agenda of engaging a shopper personally

does not mean providing attention alone, but making sure anything

the person needs, would like, and would want help, guidance from

are all available. The superlative bit of it is that it is effortless for

the shopper. After such a shopping experience the brand becomes

the sought-after destination. It is these brands that, irrespective of

whether they have the product the customer is looking for, will be

relied on and people will be loyal to.

Elements of Social

A typical purchasing process begins with awareness- about a brand,

its utility, etc, moving on to being interested in the product and nally

purchasing it. Radically working out commerce includes layers of

social in each of the stages in the process. There are different aspects

on which businesses are creating conversations. Consumers may

end up nding themselves in situations, unable to make purchase

decisions. In such a situation when the next step to take is not known,

advices, recommendations, support all kick in. The people in the

persons social world around the customer act as guides towards

decision making.

The following are some of the identied elements of being social:

Content: A great social experience includes presenting the rightcontent to the right customer at the right time. Curation is a

serious affair in social commerce. From purchase history to what

devices people are on, content has to be new, useful, and that

adds value to consumers.

Referrals and recommendations: A report made by Nielsen

indicated that 92 percent of people go by recommendations for a

purchase online rather than believing in advertisements.

Reviews and ratings: Showcasing reviews from satised

customers, friends from their social networks adds to the

credibility of the brand and is extremely inuential in conversions.

News feed: Friends see stories as they appear in the news feed.

Any and every activity is again a point of sale. This stream ows

and connects brands to people super fast.

Credits

Top: Stuart Connor

Middle:Aural Asia

Bottom: iBaNe

Reward: Rewards increase repeat purchases and build loyalty.

Ranking people, awarding points, and offering rewards tempt

people to stick around longer and even work towards it.

Encourage advocacy: Authentic advocacy inuences the

purchase decisions of everyone around.

There are applications, tools, and technologies that make all of the

above happen. Tools have been made that measure social ROI rather

accurately: from tracking number of likes, tweets, followers, pins,

re-pins, to inuences. Sophisticated analyses, metrics, campaigns

designed based on insights for right targeting, conversions, word-

of-mouth to generate great loyalty have come up. The surplus data

about behaviours, psyche, etc., offer companies opportunities to even

predict shopping patterns.

Comprehend and work on the entire shopping behaviour cycle with

the right suites of applications. Social commerce is about customer-

satisfaction, providing great experiences, and being customer centred

over the traditional sense of being prot and transactional driven.

There is a great deal of focus on relationships; the motive is no

longer sale but repeat sales along with achieving a dollop of loyalty.

To sell better and build loyalty from social audiences stimulate them,

add value, and transfer the power of transaction to them. Create

environments and platforms that actively engage with users, maintain

relationships in a personal manner- that replicates building one to

one rapport. The feminists fought for their rights with the motto The

personal is political and social commerce is making its stand with

The personal is social.

References

Cavazza,Fred.The Six Pillars of Social Commerce. Forbes.02 Jan

2012.

Chaney, Paul. Word of Mouth Still Most Trusted Resource Says

Nielsen; Implications for Social Commerce. Social Commerce Today.

16 Apr 2012.

Curty, Renata Gonalves, and Ping Zhang. American Society

for Information Science and Technology. American Society for

Information Science and Technology.48.1 (2012): 1-10.

Social Commerce. Wikipedia Inc.10 Sep 2012.

Starbucks Card. Starbucks. Starbucks Corporation. Web. 10 Oct

2012.

Group buying: Just as how news spreads quickly, group buying,

group gifting spread word about a brand, offering convenience

in terms of gaining discounts and making gifting easy. It is no

wonder that group buying can make brands go viral.

Exclusives: Exclusive fan deals, discounts for sharing,

personalized shopping experiences, pop-up shops, help make

brands stand out. Offering a privilege or a benet, and a bonus

that no one else offers ensure people stay and the cycle of

recommendations and referrals continues.

Rewards: Incentives drive people to respond. Through social,

make users perform targeted, marketing actions. Offer rewards

for expressing views, writing a review, clicking a link, sharing a

promotion, referring a friend, etc. Adding game techniques to the

incentives is another brilliant move.

Socially driven loyalty programs: Starbucks is famous for its

loyalty cards and programs. Making a move to going social with

gifting cards, rewards, and points, the program gets better with

the convenience it offers in terms of technology. The card can be

added to the Starbucks mobile app, there is an app that allows

users to check the level they havee reached in the program

using the star - My Starbuck Rewards currency, and there are

elements of fun. When one makes a purchase and goes to that

tab on the mobile app, one sees a star actually fall into a cup

and that tracks progress over time. This is evidence enough

to show that loyalty programs are now no longer for ensuring

repeat purchases built around points and rewards and repeat

purchases but built around people: enabling social mechanics

and designing a simple user engagement model.

Going Social

Going social is about redening engagement. Engagement is not

about interacting with random games and making offers after one

accumulates fans. There are various touch points in all the phases

of the shopping experience where engagement and personalization

need to be driven.

Acquaint: To drive awareness around a brand that claims beingsocial its is necessary to reect that in the awareness drive,

which has to be social in nature to elicit interest. With the plethora

of data available, set up campaigns that involve people together

be it a contest or a basic game.

Drive: Create a social world where people can participate in

activities together. Be it in the form of extending referrals or group

buying, make the world a personalized one with the help of that

deluge of data available about online behaviours and activities.

Support: In order to be a core part of peoples lives, engage, talk,

and extend support in forms of content, stories, expressions, etc.

Conversations that will help the community will also build brand

advocates. They curate information, inuence other buyers, and

communicate about brands across different social networks.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuartconner/http://www.flickr.com/photos/auralasia/http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilargi_/http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilargi_/http://www.flickr.com/photos/auralasia/http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuartconner/


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Social Technology Quarterly 06Kuliza

3. Mindtree

Mindtrees original logo looked more appropriate as

the signboard to a less discerning art gallery rather

than a logo for a global information technology

services corporation with 11,000 employees based

all around the world. The revised logo is certainly

more appropriate if not a little expected for what such

a corporation ought to look like. Nevertheless, it is a

very positive step in the right direction, communicating

capability, professionalism, technology, and a global

perspective.

1. Microsoft

Microsoft has taken a page out of Apples mandate on

simplicity to reveal this new logo. Referring to some of

its consumer logos from the past, the new logo does

away with the differentiation between the corporate

and consumer logo: a silly idea to begin with. While

the applications of the new logo are very clever

considering how Windows 8 is composed of an array

of functional squares, the execution is a bit weak. The

logo looks nondescript and simple rather than unique

and simple.

2.Twitter

If a company has been able to replace its name with a

symbol, that can be considered a huge sign of success

in my view: think Nike, Mercedes, Shell, and Apple.

Where twitter makes this success even sweeter is in the

tightness of it all - not only does the symbol represent the

brand name and the companys mission statement, but

also the very action that the companys product enables

you to do. This sort of clarity in the messaging of the logo

comes by once in a generation!

Focus

5

5. Shutterstock

The old logo shown here is not exactly the oldest logo in the

history of Shutterstock. In the last ten years the company

has rebranded itself at least four times, starting with a rather

likeable camera with a lm strip rolling out of it with the words

Shutterstock on it. As the logo evolved the camera became

more and more abstract and the type became an arbitrary

continuation of letters where ever possible. I am happy to say

that the new identity is a beautiful and refreshing departure

from that line of thinking. The two corners of the frame

that dene the o can be used in myriad ways across any

materials, highlighting what ever the company wishes to call

attention to. Bold, inventive and cleanly executed!

4. StumbleUpon

StumbleUpons new identity represents a healthy evolution from

the dot com era logos of the early 2000s. The new colours are

reduced to just two, both bold and vibrant. A graphic reduction

sees unnecessary gradients and shadows eliminated, giving the

logo a clean minimal feel. The interplay between the mark and

the type is more harmoious. This has a knock down effect to

the website, and that is where massive strides have often been

made: gone is the light blue and white machine language based

functionality that has typied so many sites built in the last ten

years.

Rebrandings ofTech Companies

byAmit Mirchandani

Photo Credit: Underconstruction.com


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Colours are crucial for brands, especially because of the

visual impact they can create in terms of establishing

values and ideas a brand would want to project. Withtheir aesthetic properties and psychological impact

colours can turn around a brands identity.

byAnindya Kundu

Illustration Credit:Anindya Kundu

The roots of the word brand can be traced

back to the old Norse word brandr which

denotes the ancient use of hot iron to mark

cattle of one farm from another. The word

maverick, which originally meant unbranded

cattle has its origins in the story of a Texas

rancher, Samuel Augustus Maverick,

whose neglected cattle were rounded up by

neighbouring ranchers.

Branding also found its expression inmarkings on bricks, watermarks on paper,

and signs on barrels to distinguish products.

Even the signatures of master artists such

as Leonardo da Vincis on paintings can be

considered as a form of branding. Much after,

branding was done with the use of logos on

printed posters and product packaging. With

the advent of radio and television slogans,

jingles, and mascots started appearing with

brand advertisements.

Today, a brand is a voice that gives a

unique identity to an organization or entity,

distinguishing it from others. It often comprises

the name, corresponding typography,

shapes, symbol, logo or any other design

elements including the colours used by the

organization. Great branding is effective in

driving loyalty, bring to limelight the products

or services offered by a company and boost

sales or transactions in unparalleled ways.

Colour is a prime visual element people

perceive. Hence it plays a crucial role in anydesign. It is extremely important in branding

because not only does it add aesthetic value

in terms of art but also because different

colours have different psychological impacts

on viewers. Thus the choice of colours in

brand identity requires to be made according

to the vision of the company and the impact it

wants to create on its specic audience.

A Glimpse into Colour Theory

Colours can be fundamentally described

Impact of Colourson Brand Identity

Campaigns


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using two models the additive model and

the subtractive model. The additive model of

colour mixing is based on the behaviour of

light mixes. Here red, green, and blue light

combine to produce white light. The behaviour

of mixing of colour pigments like any dye,

paint or ink give rise to the subtractive model.

In this case, any colour can be generated by

mixing the colours cyan, magenta, yellow,

and black, and is the foundation of colour

printing and photography. Colours can alsobe dened using the three attributes of hue,

saturation and lightness.

Based on the traditional Colour Wheel

that dates back to Goethes Theory of

Colours published in 1810, red, yellow, and

blue are the primary colours. By mixing the

primary colours, secondary colours such as

orange, green, and purple are produced.

Consequently, by mixing a primary colour

with its adjacent secondary colour the tertiary

colours - vermilion, marigold, chartreuse,

aquamarine, violet, and magenta - are

derived. Colours can also be divided based

on their relative temperature, based on both

nature and cultural norms. Warm colours

include red to yellow including orange, pink,

brown, and burgundy. Cool colours include

green to blue including shades of violet. Cool

colours have a calming effect and appear to

recede, while warm colours represent heat

and motion, pop-out and create emphasis.

Hence cool colours are often used for

backgrounds and warm colours for makingheadings or graphics to stand out.

While choosing a colour scheme or a

combination of colours that work together,

relative positions of colours in the colour

wheel offer an advantage. Thus some

of the basic colour schemes which exist

are: monochromatic (tones of a single

colour), analogous (colours closely related),

complementary (colours opposite to one

another), split complementary (when

complementary colours are split to two

close and equidistant colours), triadic (three

colours equally separated in wheel), and the

tetradic (also called double complementary).

The Functional Impact of

Colours

The functional aspect of colours is to create

emphasis or prominence, which is a primary

goal of branding. Thus along with using the

other principles of placement, continuity,isolation and proportion, contrast between

colours is the factor determining readability

and attention of the viewers. Black on

white is the easiest to read on both paper

and computer screens. Other most legible

combinations include black on yellow,

green on white followed by red on white.

As mentioned earlier, warm colours tend to

pop-out more compared to cooler colours,

which appear to recede. This can be used

effectively to emphasize branding.

The Psychological Impact of

Colours

Different colours have different emotional

impacts associated with specic moods.

Red is the colour for passion. It is known

to increase human metabolism and has an

exciting, dramatic effect. Even the richer

colours- burgundy and maroon nd their appeal

amongst wine and ne living enthusiasts.

Orange is an active and energetic colour. It

promotes enthusiasm and creativity. It has a

less formal and more inviting appeal to it. It

works well for anything related to food and

cooking. Being hard to nd in nature they

it also stands out and hence used in life-

jackets, road cones and hunting vests.

Yellow is a highly active colour and fosters

happiness. Hence it is the colour of smiley

icons and is commonly used to evoke

friendliness.

Green is the colour for nature and freshness.

It is also associated with currency and hence

wealth and prosperity.

Blue is the colour of tranquillity, peace and

stability. It symbolizes openness, intelligence

and faith. The negative connotation

associated with it is melancholy as expressed

in blues music.

Purple has both the stimulation of red and thecalmness of blue. It is the colour of royalty

and extravagance. This association stemmed

from the difculty in preparing purple dye in

ancient times. It is also commonly seen in

gemstones, owers, and wine.

White is the colour associated with purity and

perfection. In some Asian cultures it is the

signier of death.

In spite of all its negative connotations with

darkness, evil and death, Black is also the

colour of elegance, power and strength if

used appropriately in certain contexts.

Colours and Aesthetic value

The aesthetic values of colours are derived

from the choice of colours according to the

context it has been used in as well as from

the harmony in the colour palette. This

harmony can be obtained from the use of

the basic colour schemes monochromatic,analogous, complementary, split

complimentary, triadic, and tetradic. Adobe

Kuler is a great resource for nding and

creating sophisticated colour themes based

on these basic colour schemes.


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Red

Turquoise

Nature & Freshness

Currency & Prosperity

Friendliness & Happiness

Energy & Dynamism

Green

Spring Green

Yellow

Orange

Cyan

Ocean

Stability & Intelligence

Calmness & Peace

Passion & Drama

Increases Metabolism

Blue

Violet

Magenta

Raspberry


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KulizaUse of colours across different

sectors

Different business sectors show particular

preferences towards certain colours:

Food and Beverage Industry

It has an afnity towards the colours red,

yellow, and orange. This is apparent in the

branding of Coca Cola, McDonalds, KFC,

Taco Bell, Caf Coffee Day and almost

any other fast food chain. Red stimulates

appetite, while yellow and orange impart

friendliness. Green is also used as in Subway

branding to indicate freshness and nature.

Pepsi and Dominos introduce a relatively

uncommon blue, but it again has red to offset

and contrast it.

Automobile Industry

Automobiles look for a classy appeal and

usually use black and chrome textures.

Prominent examples include Nissan, Honda,

Jaguar, and Mercury. Red is also used

sometimes to evoke passion as we can

notice in Toyota, Audi, Suzuki, Fiat, and many

others. Reliability and stability are evoked

by BMW, Ford, Mazda, Volvo and Saab.

Even the sporty yellow and orange nd their

expressions with Ferrari, Renault, Opel, and

Chevrolet.

IT Industry

Computers and IT services companies have

a preference towards blue as it gives the

sense of clarity and stability. DELL, HP, IBM,

Intel, Microsoft, Facebook, and eBay have

blue as the foundation to their branding. In

case of electronics both red and blue nd

prominence. Samsung, Phillips, Sony, and

Panasonic use blue while others like LG,

Canon, Toshiba, Hitachi, and Bosh are based

on variations of red.

Telecommunications Sector

Organizations in the mobile and

communications sector have similar colour

preferences in order to represent energy,

dynamism, reliability, and friendliness. Hence

colours such as red, blue, yellow, and orange

are common. For example, the blue branding

of Nokia, Samsung and Ericsson, the red of

Vodafone and Virgin, and orange used by

Orange are examples that stand for these

attributes.

Retail Sector

This sector too uses a lot of red to capture

energy, yellow and shades of orange for

friendliness, and a splash of blue and green

to denote freshness.

Toys

Since children are attracted by primary

colours, logos of toy companies often use

bright primary colours. Children tend to prefer

primary colours and hence clothes and toys

typically have primary colours.

Fashion Industry

The colours associated with luxury are

black and richer shades of red like brown,

burgundy, maroon, and forest green. Hence

most designer labels use either black or

these colours to make their statement to

their niche audience. This is also the case

with most wine, liqueur, and other premium

products.

Colours have a deep impact on the

branding of a product or service due to its

psychological, functional, and aesthetic

properties. Although there are no xed rules

for choosing colours for a specic brand,

certain trends and patterns according to

the industry and audience proles can be

mapped. While there are certain norms and

rules based on colour theory, exceptions also

exist and have alternative appeals to stand

out of the crowd.

Selling technologies by providing the space to any customer to experience

a device before purchasing adds to the whole experience of buying a great

device. With this idea replicated for purchasing most goods and not only

devices, the verdict is clear. It is the experience that closes a deal. However,

in the age of social when with a click an experience can be made exclusive,

only a handful of experiences online really follow the key word: exclusive.

Here is a portfolio of events and experiences enhanced by technologies.

These represent the incredible results and outcomes achieved through a

mix of behaviours, activities, and technology.

Smart businesses are using technologies to create integrated physical,

digital, mobile, and social shopping experiences and events where customers

can access plethora of information while they shop. Such events that go

across all marketing and shopping channels provide the insights and data

one can innovate with. Stores are rolling out apps that help accomplish rich

experiences with each customer. These events, activities, and experiments

are great examples of embracing the smart customer with smart technologies

and provide meaningful cohesive customer experience. This ensures that

online and ofine experiences are not separate but integrated for holistic

shopping experiences that lead to repeat purchases and brand loyalty.

Technology enables and experiences win!

The Proof is inthe Experience:Enhancing Experience by leveraging technologies

For brands, apps serve as a lasting

marketing channel that enables direct

contact with target audience. They offer not

plain engagement but holistic experiences.

Here are some activities conducted by

brands combined with online, offline and

augmented reality elements that can awe

any marketer.

byVandana U.

Photo Credit: Micurs
http://www.flickr.com/photos/micurs/http://www.flickr.com/photos/micurs/


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A phenomenon that has driven crazy online

sales and engagement is augmented reality.

Virtual reality is a simulation of a real

environment; however, people get into a

different reality dened by the virtual space

and goes beyond physical reality. On the

other hand augmented reality, as Wikipedia

describes it, is a live, direct or indirect,

view of a physical, real-world environment

whose elements are augmented by

computer-generated sensory input such as

sound, video, graphics or GPS data. Erick

Schonfeld opines that Augmented Reality

enhances the real world with digital data,

and therefore it is more interesting than a

fabricated environment.

An experiment that caught my eye was the

mix of apps and augmented reality with pop-up

stores. The concept of pop-ups is not new any

longer on the social commerce space. With the

success of pop-ups soaring, adding augmented

reality to them seems a clever move.

A leading shoe brand dedicated to sport

culture, Airwalk set up invisible pop-up shops

in New York and Los Angeles. Inspired by

the idea of a treasure hunt, 600 pairs of

shoes were hidden. People who wanted a

pair of Airwalks - the Ladies Jim Plastic and

the mens Jim Tennis - had to download the

GoldRun app on their smart phones. People

headed to Venice Beach, Los Angeles, or

1Washington Square, New York City, to capture

virtual versions of the sneakers and GPS-

links to each location were provided. As soon

as people located a shoe on their phones and

took a photo of the shoe, they were directed to

Airwalks e-commerce site and given a pass

code link to pre-order the exclusive shoes.

For Airwalk, hangouts and famous locations

in the two cities turned into their stores.

Without a brick and mortar shop, 600

pairs of shoes were sold in a day. Airwalk

witnessed the highest amount of trafc on

its site during this event.

Airwalk:

Augmented Reality Campaign

Credit: Piermario

Another experience leveraged with social

media (not with an app, but a map) is

by Volkswagen Brazil. The motor brand

sponsored the Planeta Terra Festival in Sao

Paulo and promoted its car, the Fox, through

a mix of Twitter, Google Maps, and real

locations where prizes were hidden. Similar

to a treasure hunt, ten tickets to the festival

were hidden across the city and these were

displayed on a microsite using Google Maps.

However, one couldnt zoom in to spot the

exact location unless it was tweeted about.

The more number of tweets containing the

2

hashtag #foxatplanetaterra were sent,

meant the closer the zoom on the map.

The rst ones to arrive at a location where

tickets were hidden would win. It is reported

that in less than two hours after it began, the

campaign became the number 1 trending topic

in Brazil and the event stretched to 4 days.

With a mix of online and ofine strategies,

Volkswagen generated a huge amount of word

of mouth. The campaign played on behaviours

through gamication, such as the desire to

win. With tweets acting as gates to levels of

zoom, the excitement of crossing each level

and being closer to the ticket pumped in the

required adrenalin.

Although Volkswagen did not offer an

experience directly in relation to the car,

which perhaps would have been more

relatable, the outcomes of this campaign

nevertheless were phenomenal.

Volkswagen:

#foxatplanetaterra

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22

Kuliza

4Speaking about motor companies, Fiat

too stepped onto the bandwagon of

experiences. Catalogues can be heavy

to read. Instead of making a boring read,

Fiat made people experience its catalogue

as a part of its Street Evo campaign. Fiat

broke the old pattern of visiting a showroom,

checking a catalogue, and test driving the

car, by creating a new gamied experience.

Promoting Punto Evo to its evolved and tech

savvy audience, Fiat came up with a mobile

app that read road signs as QR codes.

Instead of merely reading the features of the

car off a catalogue, after capturing a road

sign, one could get a visual on the feature of

the car on ones phones. So if one scanned

the stop sign, the user would get to know

all about the new breaking system; a curve

ahead sign would inform the user about the

cars intelligent lighting system that guides

the driver in curves. Now that sounds like a

regular app. However, Fiat added a game-

like experience by hiding hundreds of prizes

in the trafc signs, the rst ones to discover

them won the prize. The campaign saw

1,000,000 trafc signs being spotted on

week one, an 82 percent increase in test

drives, and it is Fiats most-seen catalogue

in the companys history. What made this

campaign a success was the incentive

part of it. Incentives and rewards make the

experience all the more fun and worthwhile.The app and the experience manage to

satiate any visitors curiosity. Anyone buying

a car will have numerous questions, and

what better way than this to answer, through

a game-like experience.

3Fiat:

Street Evo

Credit:Bokeh Burger Lynxs fallen angel campaign used

augmented reality to reflect itself as a

brand that brings a mans fantasies very

close to reality. With the objective of

raising awareness and driving purchase

of the Lynx Excite range, Lynx exploits

social media to engage its target

audience - 18 to 24 year old males - with

angels seemingly falling from the skies

for them at Londons Victoria Station. A

live broadcast, yet highly personalized,

it bent towards the angle of literally

fulfilling fantasies. It talks to men in

an exciting way, making them feel that

they are attractive, by making a woman

l iterally fall for them. Also, combined

with a Facebook game in which Lynx

challenge users to try and release one

of the angels - model and actress Kelly

Brook - the campaign is a real winner.

The campaign worked because it turns

around a fantasy as if it were actually

logical for the angel to fall.

References:

Augmented Reality. Wikipedia.Wikimedia

Foundation Inc,17 Sep 2012.

Biela, Martin. Autofspace: Digital online

automotive campaigns. Autofspace, 08 May

2011.

Hui, Francisco Hui Francisco. PSFK. PSFK

Services,05 Oct 2010.

Lynx Excite Angels meet the public at

London Victoria. Lynx Effect Blog. Lynx, 14

Mar 2011.

Parker,David. Lynx Excite fallen angel by

Tullo Marshall Warren. Campaign: The

Work.Haymarket Haymarket Business Media,

15 Mar 2011.

Volkswagen Fox: Twitter Zoom Campaign.

Digital Buzz.N.p.,02 Mar 2011.

Lynx:

Fallen Angel
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Commerce

MakingLoyalty

ProgramsWork

Loyalty programs rule our lives. They determine the airline we y with.

Sometimes even the schedule we take. They inuence where we meet,

drink coffee or have lunch. They determine the products we buy in

supermarkets. They have the power to inuence us to spend more than

we need to on items that we would view as otherwise unnecessary.

And they do this because companies understand that by giving

their customers a membership number and a plastic card, they can

seemingly satisfy peoples basic psychological aspirations and needs.

Providing these types of symbols work at a psychological level to

target and trigger actions and behaviours that engender repeat

purchase and advocacy. That is, they create loyalty. As much as all

companies want to distinguish themselves with a uniquely branded

loyalty program for their customers, the elements of each program are

often indistinguishable. American Airlines launched the rst air miles

program in 1981 that seemingly every other airline has since copied;

ditto with supermarkets, hotels, and cafs. It is hardly their fault as

there are a limited number of elements that can be employed in their

loyalty programs:

Points: calculated by the amount a member spends

Levels: based on how much a member spends during a specic

period of time

Badges: awarded based on what level the member has reached.

It signies, particularly to other people, the rewards and benets

the member receives

Rewards: offers, discounts, and benets that a member receives

Loyalty programs have undergone a

transformation with a shift from only

rewards-based programs to well-

designed, gamified structures created

based on models of motivation and of

behaviour.

byDiarmaid Byrne

Photo Credit: Onigiri-kun
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Social Technology Quarterly 06KulizaIn the last few years, these elements have been used by game

designers to create environments that lead to longer-lasting and

more in-depth participation, replicating the experience people have

while playing traditional video games. This has become known as

gamication. Game designers applied these elements to insights

from psychology and motivation theories to create immersive and

engaging experiences that ensure people continue to participate to a

greater extent than in traditional loyalty programs. The best of these

gamied loyalty programs not only add points, levels, and badges, but

also combine great game designs with an understanding of behaviour

and motivation theories. To understand why and how loyalty programs

work it is important to understand how people behave. This is best

done by looking at psychology models of motivation and behaviour.

From a perspective based on psychology, loyalty programs aim to

drive behaviours of different types of participants, at specic times,

based on triggers that the program provides. Loyalty programs draw

on the work of Abraham Maslow and his Hierarchy of Needs. The

purpose was to identify the basic types of human motivations and the

order in which they generally progress. There are ve needs:

Physiological: air, food, water, sex, sleep

Safety: health, employment and nancial security

Belonging: friendship, family, love, intimacy

Esteem: condence, achievement, respect, self-esteem

Self-actualization: the desire to become everything that one is

capable of becoming

Maslow believed that these needs motivate people to act. Their

behaviours are driven by their desire to satisfy their needs, starting

with fundamental physiological and safety needs, to higher-level

needs of achievement and self-esteem. Once the needs at each level

are satised a person is motivated to satisfy needs at the next level.

Michael Wu notes that Dan Pink expanded on Maslows self-

actualization needs in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About

What Motivates Us. His view is that once many of the basic levels

of needs have been satised, people are more motivated by intrinsic

motivators. Pink identied three needs that provide intrinsic motivation:

Autonomy: people want to have control over their work

Mastery: people want to get better at what they do

Purpose: people want to be part of something that is bigger than

they are

Both Maslows Hierarchy of Needs and Dan Pinks Three Intrinsic

Motivators provide an explanation about why people are motivated

to act. However, a loyalty program still needs to trigger desired

behaviours at a specic time to ensure member participation.

The key to triggering behaviours is to make sure that loyalty programs

work as intended. B.J. Fogg developed a behavioural model - Foggs


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Behavioural Model or FBM - to help designers and marketers ensure

that all psychological elements are present to trigger behaviour. He

posits that there are three factors with subcomponents that lead to

certain behaviours:

Motivation: pleasure / pain, hope / fear, social acceptance /

rejection

Ability: time, money, physical effort

Triggers: facilitator, spark, signal

Fogg argues that in order to trigger desired behaviours, all three

factors need to converge at the same time. Thus, the loyalty

program needs to be crafted in a way that these three factors occur

at the same time. It must provide a trigger to initiate the behaviours

it wants from its members. It then needs to ensure that they are

motivated and have the ability to complete those behaviours. That

is, the loyalty program should offer sufcient rewards to the person

to be motivated enough to do the action, and the person should have

the ability to complete the action.

Along with understanding motivation, designers of loyalty programs

need to understand how their members would engage with the loyalty

program. When conceptualizing a program, designers need to ensure

it appeals to as many people as possible. Richard Bartle developed a

simple player typology with four basic player types to understand the

motivations that drive people to play:

Achievers: people who are motivated to achieve points and other

rewards for the prestige of having them

Explorers: people who prefer to discover and learn about the

game, often at their own pace

Socializers: people who play for the social aspect rather than

the game itself

Killers: people who enjoy competing against others

By understanding that there are different types of players, designers

and marketers are better able to ensure that aspects of the loyalty

program appeal and motivate as broad a range of people as possible.

Loyalty programs are designed to meet the needs of people in a way that

motivates them to behave in a specic manner. They need to be broad

enough to attract different types of people, wh ether they are achievement

orientated or socializers. When we apply Maslows Hierarchy of Needs,

Dan Pinks focus on factors that provide intrinsic motivation, Foggs

Behavioural Model and Bartles player typology, we can see why loyalty

programs are successful in motivating specic behaviours. Maslow and

Pink explain what people need, and in order to satisfy these needs people

are motivated into action. The belonging needs in Maslows Hierarchy

correspond to the social aspect of participating in loyalty programs. The

esteem needs correspond to status, achievements and leaderboards.

In the case of Dan Pinks three factors, mastery corresponds to points,

progression and levels, and purpose corresponds to goals and targets.

For loyalty programs to be successful, they need to meet these needs

to motivate member behaviour. However, to trigger this behaviour,

according to Fogg, the programs mechanics must ensure that these

three factors all occur at precisely the same time.

Credit:Dijle

By examining airline loyalty programs, it is possible to see how these

apply insights from psychology and motivation theories. They appeal

especially to Bartles achievers and killers typography. People are

motivated to achieve a certain level of status from their membership

program so that it satises their belonging and esteem needs. They

are part of a (possibly) small percentage who are platinum members

and who receive platinum-level benets. As such, they also have the

symbols to reect this status - platinum membership card, dedicated

check-in lane, lounge access.

Another example of a loyalty program that applies insights from

psychology and motivation theories is Nike+. It is not a traditional

loyalty program; in fact it gamies running. However, by aligning with

peoples goal - improving their athletic performance - Nike ensures it

shares a common purpose with people. Nike helps them achieve their

goal with their runners, clothing, and Nike+ apps, while increasing the

switching costs from Nike to one of their competitors.

The Nike+ tness tool uses game elements to encourage people to

improve their tness. A device is tted into Nike runners and then

synchs with an iPhone or iPod. Users can track their activities,

performance - distance, time, pace, calories burned - and their

progression, set challenges, and compete with their friends. They can

post their run on Facebook and Path and hear real-time cheers for

every comment or like they receive.

Nike+ has been extremely successful, and looking at how it works it

is easy to see why. It appeals to all four of Bartles player typologies

by allowing people to interact in different ways with the tool:

compete against others, work to achieve goals, meet other exercise

enthusiasts, or work on tness at their own pace. It also satises the

safety, belonging and esteem needs of Maslows hierarchy, and the

intrinsic motivators that Dan Pink identied. Nike+ also shows Foggs

Behavioural Model in action: users have targets and challenges

based on their ability and the app motivates them while running to

achieve them, triggering behaviours.

Loyalty programs will evolve to being a constant partner in their

members lives through smart phone apps, and not just thought of

when queuing to purchase products in a store. Nike+ is one such

example of where loyalty programs are heading. They will be gamied

to create more engagement from members. To do this well they need

to be cognizant of the psychology of motivation and behaviour. Loyalty

programs will have a clear purpose that is shared by their members

and they will help their members achieve it.

References

Abraham Maslow. Wikipedia,The Free Encyclopedia.17 Sep 2012.

Wu, Michael. Gamification 101: The Psychology of Motivation.

Lithosphere.03 Jan 2011.

Fogg, BJ.Foggs Behavioural Model. Online Posting to Twitter.Web.

30 Oct.2012.
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Kuliza

Never in the history of commerce has such

a deluge of data been vaunted before

an information-hungry, and social-savvy

audience. Only a decade ago, CERN, a

European research organization, set up one

of the worlds largest databases with over

11.5 billion web pages. Today, the average

supermarket has access to shopping data:

stores that are at least twice as big, if not

bigger in size.

When consumers use their credit cards at

restaurants, clothing stores, or other retail

businesses, those purchase choices are

recorded and processed. Within the hour,

businesses have the ability to unearth

underlying consumption patterns that can

be produced in real-time. In a matter of few

hours, not only does the user behaviour trend

become more evident, but also the correlation

between people, events, locations, and

preferences emerge from silhouettes to

reveal a fairly clear picture of how marketing

campaigns are performing. The availability

of such large amounts of actionable data is

transforming the communications landscape

and is also having a sibylline effect on the

fabric of social commerce.

What is Big Data?

Wikipedia denes Big Data as Datasets

whose size is beyond the ability of typical

database software tools to capture, store,

manage, and analyze. 2.5 quintillion bytesis the amount of data created every day.

Although, this proliferation of data is an

evidence of an increasingly prying world, it

is possible for Big Data to positively impact

social commerce. While most research into

Big Data so far has focussed on addressing

questions related to its volume, this article

posits the case of the impact of Big Data

on businesses with a special emphasis

on social commerce. The article also

examines the potential value that Big Data

can create for organizations, and illustrate

and quantify that value.

Commerce

Thinking BigDataBusinesses are leveraging big data and analyzing it to

gain a stronger competitive position. This article looks

at the significance of data and how it is used to conductexperiments to develop the next generation of products

and services.

bySiddharth Balaravi

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In the old days most data

problems could be solvedas computing speed caught

up. Now, theres this deluge

of new kinds of data which is

growing faster than Moores

law. Weve basically broken

what Moores law can cope

with, and so we need a bunch

of new technologies to get on

the right side of that again
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References

Chu, Julian.The Ultimate Online Shopping

Experience, Part 1: Strategy and Design.

E-Commerce Times 10 Dec 2008.

Gerejo, Lyndon. Improving The Online

Shopping Experience, Part 1: Getting

Customers To Your Products. Smashing

Magazine.15 Sep 2011.

Lynch, Liz. The Rise of Curated Shopping.

The Relevant Marketer. e-Dialog, 18 Aug

2011.

May 2012 Trend Briefing: Retail Revolution.

Trendwatching.com. n.d. 08 Sep 2012.

and leveraged strategies and ideas based on

these insights.

Shopping is about discovery

An objective of shopping is to wow oneself.

Therefore every shopping experience has

a lot to do with discovering. A lot of people

walk into curio and handicraft stores without

the express purpose of buying anything in

particular. They go in, browse through the

merchandise, and if something catches their

eye, they buy it.

OpenSky is an e-store that provides deals on

products hand-picked by experts in fashion,

health, food, and design. They promise to

deliver What you were looking for, before

you started looking. Their Pinterest-like

interface features product shots with brief

descriptive titles without brand names just

like one would come across in a curio shop.

Discovery begins fundamentally at guring out

products and services. It elevates to levels of

building associations with the brand. Loyalty

cards, offers, discounts are some ways to

discover more about a brand and also about

peoples behaviours. The elevation then is

also about discovering loyalties, shopping

patterns, and enthusiasm towards specic

brands not from the perspective alone of a

seller but consumers themselves.

Products have a story to tell

Many products have a story in their creation,

while some others gain signicance post-sale.

In both cases, it is the story that the customer

can tell when talking about the product. For

instance, a hand-crafted artifact may have

originated from a particular tribe in New

Guinea and the story of its origins may be of

interest. Or the proceeds from the sales of

a particular product are donated to a cause.

People are becoming increasingly socially

aware, and so it is important to them that what

they buy in some way contributes to a cause.

Sevenly.org is a clothing store that dubs

itself as an Organic Funding Movement and

the worlds most effective cause activation

platform leading a generation toward

intentional generosity. Each week they

choose a charity or cause to donate to, an

associated NGO, and set a target amount

they want to donate. A part of the proceeds

from each sale they make that week are

then set aside for donation. A counter on

the website tells users how far they are from

reaching the target amount.

Shoppers are choosy about who

they accept advice from

People often turn to their most trusted friends

when seeking advice on making purchases.

They choose who to ask for advice based on

their knowledge of the friends interests, tastes,

and choices in other purchases. Decision-

making assistance has been a huge point

of focus for e-commerce sites with tools and

apps to recommend products. However, these

are based on past purchases, which is big

drawback when it comes to drawing rst-time

customers. Brand owners are hiring curators

for various categories in an attempt to solve

this problem. Curators analyze the vast amount

of data- professional, personal details, likes,

hobbies and other interests of consumers.

AhaLife is a shopping portal that promotes

its curators more than the products theysell. Each curator has a dedicated page

complete with bios that establish expertise

in their respective areas. Users can get

product details, and also the curators views

and reasons for a product chosen, and what

makes it stand out. Taking it one step ahead,

they are now organizing live meet-ups in

major cities where consumers can personally

meet curators and designers.

Credit:Rob Ellis

Credit:Susan NYC

Reading about product utility is

not sufficient

If a consumer is investing in technology with

the intention of upgrading from an existing

device, product utility is not ones focus.

In such a case product specications are

sufcient to make a decision. Conversely in

the category of beauty products no matter

how much one reads about those products,

sees them or is persuaded by the women

in branded uniforms, it is not the same as

experiencing those products.

Shopping is about taking a

break

Going shopping is a way to relieve stress,

the same way that coffee breaks are used.

It helps one ease up for a while. People

often drop in nearby stores during a break

to browse, discover brands, and make few

impulse purchases. The intention is not

buying out of need, but to do an activity that

would brighten up ones busy day.

To make the experience worthwhile,

commerce sites make shopping a break-

like activity through videos of product

demonstrations and sales pitches. This is

based on the premise that while taking a

break people watch videos, surf the net, or

check updates on social networking sites.

Joyus, a commerce portal that specializes in

beauty products for women, has implemented

an entire video-culture. The website is video-

led with product demonstrations and make-up

how-tos. Customers who visit the site while

taking a coffee break at work can watch videos

on new products, brands, and usage tips.
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Obsolence

The traditional purchase funnel that drove

advertising and marketing strategies, tactics,

and budgets is obsolete. No longer can

companies rely on targeting as many people

as possible, knowing that a percentage of

them will lter down the funnel and ultimately

purchase the product. What has changed is

that the consumer - and fans in particular - is

now a larger inuencer on purchase decisions

than advertisers. It is more important for

brands to focus on the consumer generated

megaphone than solely on the purchase

funnel, and evolve ways for their customers

and fans to advocate products and services.

TheConsumerGeneratedFunnel

Word of Mouth Marketing

Forecast 2003 2013

2003: $313m

2004: $487m

2005: $722m

2006: $981m

2007: $1351m

2008: $1543m

2009: $1701m

2010: $1918m

2011: $2204m

2012: $2572m

2013: $3043m

Sentiment expressed by

word-of-mouth marketing:

66% of brand-related conversations

are mostly positive

8% of brand-related conversations

are mostly negative

The driving forces of

purchase decisions:

54% word-of-mouth

47% information on a website

42% email sent by a friend

31% online reviews

Commerce

byDiarmaid Byrne

Illustration Credit:Amit Mirchandani

References

Conroy, Pat, and Anupam Narula. A new

breed of brand advocates: Social networking

redefines consumer engagement. Deloitte

Development LLC,n.d.Web.15 Oct 2012.

Jackie,Huba.14 new statistics about word of

mouth marketing. Church of Customer.N.p.,

17 2011.

Word-of-Mouth Spending to Reach $3

Billion by 2013. Marketing Charts.PQ Media,

07 2009.

Consumers Believe in Positive Word-of-

Mouth. eMarketer 02 12 2010.

Credibility of advocates:

59% of Americans believe ofine

WOM to be highly credible

49% of Americans believe online

WOM to be highly credible

Compared to negative WOM,

positive WOM is more than twice as

likely to get people to seek further

information.

Less than 50% of respondents

deem negative WOM as credible

Main activities of brand

advocates:

1. Recommending verbally

2. Payingmore for this than

other brands

3. Purchasing favorite brand

multiple times when on sale

4. Sharing the product /

coupons with others

5. Searching for coupons in

store circulars

6. Searching for special offer

coupons online


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40 41

Social Technology Quarterly 06Kulizadiversity is not Pinterests forte or even in its interest. When $80 is the

average amount for purchases initiated by the site, Pinterest is clearly

not for all. It has its own brand image to live up to. Brands participating

in Pinterest know this. Companies are rapidly developing innovative

engagement strategies, integrating the Pin It button across all web

spaces they can exist on, from networking sites to search engines.

Brands offer new visual stimuli everyday and provide a 2% reward of

the selling price to the purchase enabler in a service similar to Fancy.

This is a very high degree of personalized and networked pressure

working on you to make you buy.

An essential part of any commercial relation is honesty. Both parties

have to be honest to the product as well as the transaction for it to be

a success. In most e-commerce networks seller reputation and peer

review are instrumental in helping new buyers reach their decisions;

be it the small, local players such as Zalando, MouthShut or giants

such as Amazon and EBay.

Detailed reviews are much

appreciated. Skepticism and

suspicion are bound to surface

towards extreme reactions.

Some social commerce

discussion forums regularly

reveal the unreliability of such

ratings and reviews. Sellers

on Amazon are known to offer

buyers discounts to remove

negative comments, thereby

keeping their overall ratings high.

This may be improved customer

relationship management but

it can also be interpreted as

buying the buyers silence. To

bring in transparency social

commerce platforms today have

a lot to achieve. It is essential

consumers are provided platforms to express their thoughts without

brands attempting backend tweaking or inuencing. Also, there is aneed for curation of quality reviews, prohibition of fake proles from

sellers or their competitors from skewing the nature of feedback.

The social network culture of grabbing user data is one of the biggest

challenges to the growth of social commerce. The motive is to offer

better customer experiences but at the cost of sharing personal data.

Every Facebook app that one uses, asks for unanimous access to

personal information. The Apple App store requires one to release

ones credit card data. New e-commerce sites request log-ins via

Facebook or Twitter giving them access to ones networks, contacts

and other relevant social data.

The cautious say there is no apparent need for all this data but people

The rise of commerce has always been tightly aligned with certain

mutually benecial, economic principles for the buyer as well as the

seller: whether it is the barter system in which two parties exchanged

goods and services with equal perceptible value or whether it is the

money economy, that assigns legal tender status to paper. In each

epoch, commerce has ourished only when there has been the

approval of two or more parties based on a code of ethics that has

governed the transaction. Today, commerce is moving in the direction

of social commerce, an exciting phenomenon to watch out for.

Social commerce is the latest buzz in consumer industries. Strategy

Consultants, Booz & Co., estimates the global market value of

social commerce to be about $9 billion in 2013, growing to $30

billion by 2015. Such gures are high enough to lure anyone who

has something to sell, want to jump into the bandwagon. The mature

ecosystem of social networks provided by Facebook, Pinterest, and

Twitter along with the equally

potent e-commerce platforms

of Amazon, EBay, and PayPal,

make it possible to unleash the

potential of social commerce to

an unprecedented degree.

Social commerce after all

makes total sense. Everyone

appreciates the inputs of friends

and family in major purchase

decisions. From buying a shirt to

booking an apartment, people

in ones network have a key role

to play in the decision making

process. This so-far-known-

but-invisible hand of inuence

is what social commerce seeks

to make visible, tap in on an

ongoing basis and of course,

monetize.

Social commerce is new. It only seems right to help consumers

understand the rules of the game before they become a core partof it. Based on what is on offer, one has to negotiate to arrive at the

right juncture which will enable this new format to succeed. So how is

business being done socially?

Consumers navigate through a burgeoning amount of inuencing

data. Peer inuence, creating groups for mutual benet and unlimited

recommendations and advices form the nucleus of social commerce.

People leave on unlimited number of platforms an indelible track of

invaluable personal and nancial data.

Each of these platforms has a unique appeal. Visual analysis of

Pinterest shows how the perfect world is soft, cute, homely and

tailored. Members have the ability to create their own boards but real

People leave on

unlimited number

of platforms an

indelible track of

invaluable personal

and financial data.



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Left: George Washington on the $1 bill

Credit:Peasap

have been convinced that who they are socially, is who they are really

and knowing that will help serve them better.

Assuming that social networkers and shoppers are generous enough

to gift all their data to the cause of consumer analysis, the risk of the

data falling into wrong hands is a primary concern.

A recent article by Mat Honan on Wired reveals how critically

connected all our internet presence is and how easy it is for those with

wrong intentions to take over someones complete online and ofine

identity. A hijacked Facebook account is one thing but a hijacked bank

account is life threatening. In the future, the two will be interconnected.

So is social commerce unethical? Visible examples from current

high trafc platforms are enough to raise warning signals among the

discerning. The segment is nascent; therefore it is easier to innovate

on its processes to emerge as transparent, consumer friendly and

ethical in its commitment to consumers in the longer term. Some key

issues that need to be redressed include managing the consumption

cycle, establishing transparency in peer recommendation, and

allowing consumers to take charge of their data.

In 2012, Target came under serious criticism for its acute consumer

analytics which could predict pregnancy even before the information

was made public by the person concerned. This should tell consumers

that industry analytics today are sophisticated enough to predict a

lot about users. Instead of using the data to single-mindedly drive

purchase behaviour, brands that will use consumer data responsibly

to moderate the consumption cycle and only push for purchase at

necessary intervals, will gain signicant consumer-trust. Instead of

the Pinterest model of everything is so beautiful, a balanced model

of need and purchasing power, adjusted recommendations will help

bring out the more democratic and humane side of social commerce.

Peer recommendation in the age of Facebook has been quite

voluminous. One likes Zara, so one recommends friends to like Zara.

One wants to network on Glassdoor, so invites others too. Such

expansive peer recommendation must change if social commerce is

to be meaningful and succeed in the long run. Using smart analyticsand lters, social networks will now need to enable their users to

recommend in a more intelligent fashion. After all, we do know

what our friends really like. So, instead of disturbing every single

one of them with everything and nothing, it is the users themselves,

if adequately enabled, who can help brands become even more

focused in reaching their target consumer base.

Users are quite surprised by the long-tail effect of their data on the

internet. Not many are aware that Facebook has the permission to

share data even after proles have been deleted. One of the crucial

factors that most social companies need to be held responsible for is

their terms and conditions. The miniscule sized writing and unending

pages of conditions are reasons enough for even the most careful

of users to decide to skip and agree to anything in their rush to

experience the service. Such conditions are critical when there is a

commercial angle associated with it. Brands that will cut through the

chaff and seek permissions to use and share specic data from their

consumers, in simple and comprehensible terms, will not only enable

the consumer to be in better charge of their data but will themselves

emerge as highly transparent business practices. This is an enviable

positioning that most companies ought to strive for.

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia once said, Commerce is ne.

Advertising is not evil. But it doesnt belong here. Not in Wikipedia.

On similar lines, social commerce is ne. Advertising is also welcome

in social commerce but unethical behaviour does not belong here.

Ethics are a crucial factor in shaping brand loyalty. The terms and

conditions set with consumers today will shape the future of social

commerce. Martin Lindstorm in Buyology, analyzed mirror neurons

and cautioned consumers that the next generation of marketing

strategies will vie not for consumers sight but directly for their brain

and via their most trusted peers. At a time when both the radical and

the emotional side of consumers are targeted, consumers have the

right to demand utmost ethical behaviour from their favourite brands.

References

Duhigg,Charles.How Companies Learn Your Secrets. The New York

Times Magazine 16 02 2012.

Honan,Mat. How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic

Hacking..Wired,06 08 2012.

Lindstorm,Martin.Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy.Crown

Business,2008.

Turning Like to Buy : Social Media Emerges as a Commerce

Channel..Booz & Co.,17 04 2011.

Social commerce statistics..Bazaar Voice,n.d.Web.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peasap/http://www.flickr.com/photos/peasap/


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44

Do you remember the heavy metal band

Anthrax? The lead guitarist Dan Spitz

left in 1995 because he was severely

disinterested in playing the guitar. He is

now a watchmaker, and claims that it is an

unending skill to learn. Antonio Banderas, Sir

Cliff Richard, and Sting all make their own

wine. Even US President Obama makes his

own beer, the Whitehouse Brew. Well, he

instructs and pays for it at the least.

There are plenty of regular people who grow

fruits and vegetables on their own, raise

chickens, and keep their own bees. Others

are buying them from farmers markets

instead of supermarkets. Some have even

made it their business: The Mast Brothers

craft delicate chocolate by hand and Makers

and Brothers sell beautifully designed objects

for everyday use.

Even education is becoming DIY. Online

websites such as Coursera, Duo-Lingo,

Khan Academy, and Audacity offer free

courses. Classes are online videos or

multiple-choice questions. Discussions,

tests, and assessments ensue. Certicates

are sometimes awarded; other learning

happens for the purpose of learning itself.

Mike Doherty, in his article, The Story Behind

the Stuff: Consumers Growing Interest in

Real Products, says There is a powerful

urge to get in touch with what they believe

is a more real world, and its leading usto a place where signs of realness take on

greater value. He thinks that this movement

is bigger and more lasting than the usual

trend and counter-trend shifts that we

see. He also mentions Melanie Howards

Future Foundation reports that indicate

that many consumers are also seeking the

simplication of complexity which is about

the urge people feel to get in touch with what

they believe to be a more real world.

Doherty gives the example of Icebreaker

Merino Garments that come with a baacode

Communities

The MakerMovementThe DIY movement has come to encompass broader

skill sets, defining a whole new philosophy and

appreciation of self-sustaining forms of living.

byPayal Shah

to allow customers to trace the merino

wool in their garment back to its source in

New Zealand. Customers can see how the

sheep live, read about their growers, and

follow production through to the nished

garment

Documents

Social Technology Quarterly Issue 06