Simply put, social commerce is about customers having the online tools to interact with one another in order to make better buying decisions.

The Rise social networks are having a positive impact on ecommerce in the US. Online businesses are realizing that they need to do more than provide a good product, but they also need to start connecting with their audience on a personal level. Today, consumers are the source of feedback on businesses and products. Word of mouth is free advertising and increases the visibility of niche retailers and products.

Social shopping online shows up in many different ways, from social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace to word of mouth vehicles, such as reviews on shopping sites to social shopping sites. EMarketer Report states that 40% of adults are visiting social networking sites, which reinforces why advertisers are experimenting on Facebook, MySpace and other niche social networks. Examples of some of these sites are:

These sites encourage customer feedback, discussion and reviews, and peer-to-peer sharing of information. Consumers understand that this information is very influential to the online consumer’s purchase decisions.

Some social shopping sites offer merchants the ability to connect with their audiences by creating shopping communities within their network. StyleHive allows community pages called “Nectar Hives,” which is a landing page that contains all of the bookmarks that StyleHive members have created around the product.

It is clear that social shopping will continue to be part of ecommerce and is becoming part of our culture. The social aspect of shopping is expanding to find the consumer’s voice. There are new ways for consumers to connect and communicate, which creates new ways for merchants to connect to them.