Post over at DecisionStep (ShopTogether software – and behind Barbie’s foray into social commerce), predicting that we’ll be seeing social commerce apps on travel sites soon.
Of course, most travel sites (e.g. TripAdvisor.com) already include social commerce apps in the form of user ratings and reviews – but what DecisionStep see is a future where people (families, friends, agent+customer) can co-browse travel sites and book together (using their ShopTogether social shopping app/toolbar of course) – BookTogether TM coming to a site near you… ;-).
We believe the team at DecisionStep is onto something, and we’re big fans of ShopTogether, but we think the ideal software would allow “asynchronous shopping”, not just synchronised shopping – for example, allowing trip organisers to create polls on the fly of travel options and allow invitees to vote on, comment and add options, as and when they want. Synchronised shopping is great – but getting everyone together at the same time can be a challenge of optimism over reality.
The great thing about being social on the web is that you don’t have to be together in space – or time.
Paul — Many thanks for your interest in DecisionStep and ShopTogether. Our research, feedback from customers and market trends all indicate that, when making a purchase decision on everything from clothes and furniture to financial products, consumers really want the advice of trusted friends/family and peers. Travel is no different. We think the real-time component is critical when you’re looking for an opinion right now, and to avoid the time-suck that results from emailing links back and forth and trying to walk someone through a site over the phone. Having said that, our ShopTogether technology does allow for some of the asynchronous communication you mentioned, through integration with all the major social networks and the commenting/responding capabilities those sites allow. We’re always looking at how to improve our applications to make them more useful for consumers, and your ideas around polling and voting on options are really great. We’ve passed them along. Continue the great coverage!
Thanks for your comment Keith, good luck with conquering the travel market! Yep “real-time component” is key and perhaps more so than “interactivity” (polls, voting etc); the reviews incumbents have neither right now.
Paul – I want to echo Keith’s thanks for your great coverage of our ShopTogether technology and for your suggestions. Stay tuned for upcoming enhancements – I think you’ll be pleased!
Best,
-John Jackson
CEO, DecisionStep