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Citizen-Sellers & The Superfan Workforce
Modern consumers, especially Millennials, are
becoming accustomed to playing curator in their
daily lives – such as grouping images on Pinterest
or Tumblr. Smart retailers are acknowledging this
desire to curate, personalise and share, offering
virtual boutiques populated with consumer-
chosen products on their e-commerce sites.
This strategy is focused on using the power
of peer-to-peer influence to drive sales. Stylus
predicts this influence will continue to be amplified
by new technologies that allow consumers to
segue seamlessly from sharing into selling, and to
purchase at point of inspiration.
•
Utah - based start-up Needle cites fan-
sourcing among its key methods of improving
brands’ sales, using networks of existing
superfans as sales people. In late 2011, the
group partnered with audio lifestyle brand
Skullcandy to launch a fan-sourced online
chat service offering customer advice. The
selected superfans not only get paid to spend
time helping customers, but also receive
exclusive rewards (such as headphones) when
customers found their advice particularly
useful. Needle reports an increase in sales of
20% following superfans’ involvement.
•
US-based Shopinterest launched in 2012
and allows users to import sellable items
from their Pinterest pinboards to establish a
personal store. When purchasing, users add
to their Shopinterest cart – keeping the entire
process within the Shopinterest domain as
opposed to redirecting consumers away to
individual sites.
•
A new generation of sophisticated
aggregators are allowing brands and retailers
to monetise content. Helsinki-based Kiosked
describes itself as a content distribution and
activation platform that essentially turns any
piece of digital content – whether image,
video or text – into a point of sale. When
content such as an advertising image is
‘kiosked’, a small icon appears indicating it
is ‘enriched’. The company works with Nike,
Getty Images, Uniqlo, Asos and Yoox. Kiosked
also allows consumers to share items with
friends – and shoppers earn when friends
buy from the kiosks they share. Shoppers
can also wishlist or tell a retailer they ‘want’
an item wherever they are on the web; the
opportunities for personalised shopping and
loyalty schemes are huge.
Needle, fan based
sales
© Needle
Shopinterest
© Shopinterest
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Consumer Engagement