Location-based services + consumers = Black Friday deals explosion
Thanksgiving has passed, and with it, another Black Friday. Here at Pelago, we saw a lot of Black Friday deals cropping up everywhere from our community… from Target and Old Navy to WalMart and Best Buy… tis the season for great holiday deal. It’s also the season to share these deals with consumers, across all social networks. Our friends and partners, Collective Bias, posted an interesting recap about Black Friday on their blog:
Who won Black Friday? In many cases, the answer is consumers. Thanks to the confluence of social networks and mobile web connectivity, consumers are able to share not only deals and finds, but real time information about the status of inventory and shopping conditions at their local stores. Those following their stories could more efficiently plan their shopping trips thanks to the contributions of the community. Location Based Marketing (LBM), a new form of communication that delivers specific messaging based on the recipients’ location (generally determined by a mobile phone GPS) is in its infancy however, many interesting trends are emerging that will have significant impact on brands and retailers alike.
With over 60% of mobile web traffic passing through some type of social network, it’s rational to assume that shopper behavior would naturally be affected. As part of a participative shopping experiment between Social Shopper Marketing Agency Collective Bias and Pelago’s Life-streaming application Whrrl, 20 bloggers were asked to join a private community by Courtney Velasquez of GiftfullySimple.com and Melissa Garcia of ConsumerQueen.com, and share their Black Friday experiences via the Whrrl platform. From planning to Cyber Monday, the group discussed and networked the best deals and offers from all channels of retail. Additionally, their shopping experiences were woven together though various social media linkages including Twitter and Whrrl hashtag #BFdeals, Facebook and linked through the blogs of the participants.
Walmart was voted as having the best deals by Whrrl users followed closely by Target and Old Navy. While not scientific, the poll mirrored commentary in the community. Most participants found that Walmart had the best prices on items they were seeking. The primary pain point was the inventory level of promoted items. Many shoppers found hot items already gone when they arrived even when their arrival time was very early which they quickly shared via mobile web. This phenomenon also was reported for online retailers. Most also used a combination of online, circular and social shopping to build a shopping strategy (and the majority made lists). Cyber-Monday seemed to have less appeal to the group as most were already well informed of deals and didn’t see any additional benefit, although some commented that many sites were having site specific sales on Monday that required a visit to see the deals (these are likely to be quickly disseminated by social networks).
Combining high-reach social media contributors with location based services creates some powerful opportunities for brands and retailers to connect with consumers in ways that benefit all parties. Lori Falcon, author of acowboyswife.com created her own crowd sourced gift guides and leveraged her shopping experiences to create additional context. The small group had a large impact as well generating millions of impressions of savings and deal finds via Whrrl stories, images, comments etc. Tweetreach.com showed 124,000 impressions from just 50 tweets using the #BFdeals hashtag.
The potential benefit for brands and retailers participating in this conversation is promising. The ability to provide deeper context and content both at the store shelf and beyond coupled with the advocacy of inspired communities creates new opportunity to not only market but truly converse with consumers.
All #BFDeals on Whrrl:
http://whrrl.com/search?q=bfdeals&c=all
Related Articles:
http://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/article.php?id=1510&na=1
http://mashable.com/2009/11/20/black-friday-social-media/
Who do you think won Black Friday? The consumers or the retailers? Let us know your thoughts, or the best Black Friday deals you scored, in the comment section below.
