Tag: facebook

Buying jeans because your friends “like” them?

Levi’s partners with Facebook to bring you a unique social shopping experience. Now you can Like, Share, and Shop for Levi’s. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Well, I checked it out and I’m not convinced. Levi’s  just seems the wrong product for effective social shopping; even if my facebook friend or friends do like a certain pair of jeans, how does that help me to buy -online – jeans that are right for me?

Isn’t it just a basic form of product reviews, but without a scale of “liking” and without any useful and insightful comments?

For me, the value of “social shopping” is to a) recreate in the online world the event of going to the high street with friends or b) to spread the word about special and exclusive offers. Levi’s offering doesn’t do either of these. The recreation of real-world high street shopping is much more likely to work with products/ clothes which are more distinctive than mostly blue jeans. The social, viral spreading of special offers becomes effective once it’s beyond the control of the retailer, for example retweeting of offers, or on sites like hotukdeals (as I wrote about here).

I do however like how Levi’s integrate their facebook content into the right hand side of the page; much more engaging than the ubiquitous “Join us on facebook” link on most retailers’ sites. And a rather impressive 287,712 fans.

Add to bread basket…

My local bakery in Stepney looks as if it hasn’t changed for decades, so it’s pleasantly surprising to see them embracing the online world with a modern-looking website, in fact two websites for trade and retail customers, and a Facebook page updated several times a week.

When I first discovered the site they were actually selling bread online, with a “add to bread basket” feature a nice touch… Although they don’t seem to be selling online currently, it’s a lovely example of a local business using a website and facebook to win new customers and build loyalty with existing customers.

Facebook has just updated me about the “Almond macs coming out of the oven…” – I might wander over and try some…