Group buying may be all the rage via companies like Groupon but ShopWithYourFriends, which launches today, adds a new twist to social shopping by enabling group shopping sessions online.
The Dutch startup uses co-browsing technology to share the screen between multiple shoppers who can put together different pieces and discuss their choices. The idea is to simulate online the real-world experience of a group of women shopping together.
The consumer web site offers items from 50 online shops in the US, UK, Germany and France, including French Connection, My Wardrobe, Karen Millen, Mango and other well-known European high-street brands. Users can invite friends to a shopping session via Facebook or a URL.
The target market is women aged 15-45. Personally, I can’t see many 30 something women finding the time or inclination to organize a live shopping session, but it could be a hit with teenage girls.
Co-shopping might work best as a feature in existing online shopping portals, rather than as the focus of a new one. Accordingly, ShopWithYourFriends offers a B2B, white-label version for online clothing retailers. Retailers can integrate ShopWithYourFriends into their website by embedding a small piece of code.
The parent company of ShopWithYourFriends is ChatVenture, which is based in Utrecht in the Netherlands, has eight employees and is privately funded. The company was founded in 2008.
COMMENTARY: Never underestimate the female shopper. Even when they don't need it, they will buy it. They take forever to make up their mind. A short trip to the mall turns into an all-day affair. Female shopper's may actually go for this. It is a bit novel. The LookBooks feature is definitely different.
I am still trying to find the value proposition of ShopWithYour Friends. Do you need this level of social interaction in a social group shopping site? Better yet, maybe ShopWithYourFriends could incorporate the group buying model of a Groupon or LivingSocial within the site. This would be a great way to differentiate themselves from the competition in the group buying space.
Twitter is ideal for this because your follower's can see what you bought today, where and how much you spent. Just keep within the 140 character limit. Sharing that information online with your closest friends works great for Twitter. In fact, Twitter should incorporate ShopWithYourFriends. Let's find out how successful ShopWithYourFriends turns out before we start thinking a merger.
I don't know if ShopwithYourFriends has a mobile app yet, but they better get one. This would be a great way to share LookBooks with their friends and for them to rendezvous at a specific store on shopping sprees.
Courtesy of an article dated March 9, 2011 appearing in VentureBeat
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Posted by: moncler jacket | 11/14/2011 at 06:22 AM
What a great find! My friend and I love online shopping so much! And because of that, she is planning to put up an online shopping business. But like she would always tell me, there are lots of things to consider before putting up your own business. In her case, she needs to consult someone from the IT industry to help her out in building her site.
Posted by: Roslyn | 03/30/2011 at 12:54 AM