Social Media and the 'me too' society

We live is a wonderful world, full of fun and great experiences. But look again and you'll see a profound lack of originality. Creatures mimic other creatures, fashion copies fashion and artists emulate other artists in an effort to show their skills. And the same could reasonably be said about the online industry... where words like 'best practice' and 'conventions' are typically uttered by us all. When what we really mean is... "This is what everyone else does, says or thinks; so we're gonna do the same".
Sound familiar?

Perhaps the online problem is exacerbated by social media. Do social networks like Twitter and Facebook encourage the herd mentality and actually stifle original thinking?  Quite possibly.

Social Media has been described as the ultimate echo chamber, a place where thoughts uttered are repeated (or retweeted) and bounced around until some become folklore and even cited as fact.
I see it with my own eyes all the time when posts are 'curated' (In other words: stolen, passed off as someone else's or just made to look like the poster has found the work & shared it... rather than simply removing the name or Twitter handle of the originator).

It seems that in the 'me too' society, nobody wants to be left out and everyone wants to claim the credit for everything. And quite frankly... This gets my goat. Social Media has a lot going for it, it's able to be a great source of original thought and innovative ideas. It's just a shame that so many people act like virtual sheep on sites like Twitter. Perhaps that's why they call it 'following' after all.

Russell & Bromley finally gets going with eCommerce

I’ve been fairly critical of shoe retailer Russell & Bromley in the past, mainly because their online property has been poor. So I was surprised and somewhat pleased to hear that they have eventually launched an eCommerce site.

But hardly setting the world alight, Russell and Bromley have decided not to launch with an all singing and dancing multi-channel tablet-optimised site… but have gone for a very mediocre online trading site instead.  Using Venda’s Software-as-a service cloud offering (BTW: shouldn’t that be shop-as –a-service) they have finally put women’s shoes, men’s shoes and handbags for sale via their site.
So given my criticisms of their site before; I thought I’d provide my initial thoughts on this Internet retailing launch by one of the last High Street entrants:

Design :
It’s not that I dislike the creative approach they have taken…  OK, perhaps I do slightly… but what I would have liked from a brand that clearly sets itself up to be of high quality is a site that oozes prestige and refinement. Instead we get a ‘me too’ formulaic & grey-on-grey site that fails to impress. Model shots are scare & aren’t particularly good quality and  product zoom functionality was hard to find (and even non-existent on some product detail pages)…perhaps the only saving grace is the high quality of the actual product photographs.

Usability:
Grey text on white backgrounds (or sometimes vice versa) is never good for on-screen legibility. But add in the use of serif fonts and a small point size and you’ll have even a hearty share of the good-sighted users squinting at the screen. It’s therefore unsurprising that there’s no obvious accessibility page/ statement anywhere… 
Even the navigation seems to be missing a forth menu item, perhaps they are waiting for another product category to come online soon?

Technology:
With no 360 product spin (surely a useful way of showcasing women’s and men's shoes these days?) , no video and no further useful fit functionality the site hardly cuts new ground. Yes, with a Google Page Speed of 92% the site is fairly optimised, but I have the feeling that’s more down to Venda’s platform and system than anything else.

Content
With no blog, short & basic product descriptions, no user generated reviews and no text on the category landing pages… R&B is showing how not to use content to sell product. Maybe it doesn’t need to and the products sell themselves?

Famous in fabric - the Hayden T-shiirt

Having something named after you typically only happens to famous (or infamous) people, royals and inventors. It is definitely not an occurrence that regularly happens to eCommerce consultants.

However I've been humbled by a product that has recently been launched by one of my clients.

The "Hayden" T-shirt is a new product for the AllSaints Spring/Summer 2012 collection and is available in different colours. As you can see from the screen grab below, it is available to buy online as well as in-store at the modest price of £40!

And you can buy it here (for now):

When I asked Alix the AllSaints eCommerce Manager how this had happened, she explained that as the business gives a name to every product, they are always on the look out for unique ones. It would therefore seem that my name was deemed appropriate and it has been used for this T-shirt.

The only question remaining is not whether I will buy it and then wear it.... But if I have any choice in the matter!

Aggregators - why they exist in specific markets

Meta search and aggregation (for the purpose of this article I'm saying these two are the same thing, although some may claim there are subtle differences) have grown over the last few years to be a dominant acquisiton force in a number of important online vertical markets.

Financial services, from credit cards through to insurance, are now subject to aggressive aggregation from a handful of major players such as: compare the market, go compare and moneysupermarket.

Utilities including: gas, electricity, mobile phone tariffs and broadband access are now compared online. In fact a lot of fuss and claims are made by the market leaders in this sector that they are championing your consumer cause (without obviously stating that your business with them helps their financial cause).

And travel has its obvious aggregation in the form of meta searches for: car hire, hotels, flights, etc.

Each aggregated vertical has its specific nuances and intricacies, plus each its own referral & commission structures, but in essence the the business model is the same:
a. Collate as many similar products or services as you can
b. Provide a single interface that qualifies the visitor's choice (usually by a series of form fields common to all parties)
c. Deliver the results in a consistent and comparable manner (usually cheapest first, but also allowing the user to filter some options)

Aggregators exist because two simple facts:
1. customers do not believe that they always get the cheapest rate for all products from one supplier
2. customers do not want to spend the time completing the same form on numerous sites

But why don't aggregators exist in other markets... such as fashion or FMCG products (e.g. washing powder and chocolate bars)?

Well, for fashion products, the usual reason is that products are exclusive to the manufacturer. Therefore because the channels to market are all protected (e.g. the manufacturer has some level of control over price and/or distribution) there is no real flexibility in the price. Then (assuming the brand site has eCommerce functionality), it is then typically just as cheap for users to shop from the brand site as it from a re-seller.

For FMCG the lack of aggregation is a different one, that of convenience. Most shoppers, when looking to source FMCG products go to a grocery store or supermarket. They also assume that the shop has done some sort of price comparison with the competition, so they don't have to (although prices may only be matched for the core 'basket' of goods and other less common items are still priced to maximize profits). Although sites such as http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk have sprung up to allow web users to compare grocery and health & beauty products from the leading retailers, people still either only visit one store or use one online supermarket at a time.

The question I have is... are there any remaining markets where aggregation is possible but has yet to take off?

An online fashion content strategy

If you're in the online world of fashion (and these days if you're not online you're not very fashionable) then you may be struggling for ideas to generate content for your website and off-site SEO & Social Media campaigns.

This handy presentation from http://twitter.com/tamarstar should give you a few pointers on where to start

9 Ways to Create an Engaging, Easy, and Affordable Content Strategy

View more presentations from Fashion's Collective

Teens and Fashion online - retail, mobile and social habits

Working with our client River Island over the last few years has meant I have come into contact with many young, fashionable and beautiful people (Could there be a more disliked bunch? And no, according to Mrs Sutherland this apparently doesn't make me any of the above by default!)

Its also interesting to see the staff there as a cross-section of the Generation Y and Millenial demographic that is now becomming the new workforce. They live online, they work online (well, the ones in the thriving eCommerce and Marketing teams that I speak to on a daily basis do) and they socialise online using the obvious social media sites of Facebook, Twitter, etc.

The work we have done with them has meant this thirty-something consultant has also seen how high street retailers have now firmly embraced the new breed of mini celebrities and digital-savvy fashionistas that have grown in number and prominence over the last few years.

With virtually every cell phone now having a camera, teens are walking into changing rooms and happily snapping pictures of their fashionable mates. They are then either texting it to their friends or posting the photos to their Facebook profile for instant fashion feedback.

These online friends and the technology to instantly share is playing a huge role in fashion that retailers are only just starting to tune into. In understanding and analysing these habits..... the clever retailer will find new ways to engage with this audience, build a relationship and hopefully drive sales.

Join the conversation, or else...

As a lot of brands have found out that their customers (current, lapsed, potential,, etc.) are a social bunch. They've also found that if you have a brand and don't give them a platform to vent their concerns as well as their praise, they go and create one anyway. And these days, given the ease with with anyone can create a Facebook fan page or similar place, there will be a dozen different conversations going on about the same topic in next to no time.

But several brands have found that it is wise to not just join the conversation, but to provide a central place where discussions about them can be had.

Toyota, following the recent recall troubles it has had, decided to team up with Techmeme.com to create: http://toyotaconversations.com/. This is a site where you can see all social media buzz about the ongoing issue as well as Toyota's own ongoing information.

Nokia have done a similar thing with their site http://conversations.nokia.com/ where they have turned a blog into an entire communication platform including video & podcasts as well as some fun applications.

However UK fashion retailer ASOS have taken this one step further with http://www.asosfollowsfashion.com/. Launched earlier this month, the site allows you to quickly see the aggregated Twitter messages from people and brands in the fashion industry, including ASOS's competition. This is a bold move to try and curate not just its own brand messages, but those of the entire online fashion communication space.