Social Shopping - the next generation

What can beat a day out shopping with friends, trying on clothes and generally having the chance to chat about what you do and don’t like about each other’s choices?

So far, you haven’t been able to have a similar experience online, as although the concept of social shopping has been around for quite a while; (Bluhalo covered it in a blog post in the summer of 2008). Historically, to enjoy the social shopping experience, you have always needed a browser plug-in to chat to friends whilst on shopping sites.

However, there’s a new kid on the block, Plurchase.com; who just might have found a solution that really will make it possible to shop till you drop, but with your friends in tow online, there to stop you making those disastrous shopping purchases and generally making it a whole lot more fun!

The way it works is simple. Visit Plurchase.com, choose where you want to shop and then email your friends a URL, which means they can join you real-time and see what you’re looking at before you go ahead and decide to buy. It also gives you the option to connect to Facebook and share your product choices with all your Facebook friends; there’s even a Twitter link.

The best bit is that you don’t need to register. They make their money from affiliate payments from the shopping sites they support, making it completely free to use. The downside at present is that they don’t have a huge portfolio of stores they are linked to – just www.Zappos.com, www.amazon.com and www.craigslist.org, but the potential is fantastic and I’m sure they are busy trying to persuade other sites to join in!

Plurchase loads as a sidebar on the site that you are visiting and shows which of your friends are online. The item you are looking at is displayed in the sidebar on your screen as well as on that of your online friend. They can then click on the link so they can see what you’re thinking of buying and can write comments in a box in the sidebar. And there you have your instant feedback.

It may not be quite as good as the real thing, but just think how useful it would be if you needed to buy a shared present for your parents for example. You could find the perfect present, send an email to your siblings and then get everyone to discuss and agree to it then and there. Even better, it could also be a brilliant way to make sure your other half buys the right present for you – no more excuses!

The traditional older established social shopping sites like www.kaboodle.com, www.thisnext.com, www.wists.com and www.wishpot.com are all still serving us well, but in theory, the Plurchase offering takes it one step further – they just need to make it work in practise by getting a decent number of sites to sign up so it makes it worth our while to use them whenever we can.

Jill Thater
Client Services Director

Surf's Up: The olympics are over so where can you get your sports fix now?

Like many people I watched parts of the Olympics, but not all. I mainly heard news of medal wins via news sites and the BBC had great coverage of the opening ceremony. For the sports fan, no matter what sport you enjoy, I am sure the Olympics were a great sports fix, but now it's all over what do they do?

Well if you love sport you probably already know that there are some great sites out there for fans. They cover a variety of sports. Some are news sites while others try and get you into shape.

Well I’ve searched and here are some interesting websites I’ve come across and some I have used. Enjoy your sports fix:



http://www.sportingo.com/
"Sportingo, the home for fan-generated articles, opinions and news from the world of sport. Whether you are after the latest online banter from the Premiership or you are looking for in-depth analysis of the latest test match, you have come to the right place."



http://www.ballhype.com/
"Too many sports blogs, too little time ...BallHype makes it easy for all of the sports fans out there who want to keep up but don't have all day to goof off online."



http://www.sportsnipe.com/
"Sports Snipe now finding your favorite sports news from 3976 sources and climbing. Enjoy."



http://www.sportsfanlive.com/
"Sports Fan Live is a social network for sports fan centered around what a fan wants to see."



http://www.youcastr.com/
"YouCastr is creating an interactive sports network where fans interact with each other before, during and after a game, making the experience of following their favorite sports more fun and social."



http://www.teamsnap.com/
"TeamSnap is a unique way to manage your sports team. TeamSnap takes the headache out of team sports by making it simple to manage your sports team online."



http://www.runnerplus.com/
"RunnerPlus® provides a thriving forums area, groups, challenges, run mapping, member tips & advice, videos, and more. If you use running systems such as the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit or Garmin Forerunner*, then you will benefit even more."



http://istats.com.au/
"iStats - FREE online fitness, exercise and weights journal, helps keep you motivated by viewing your progress & sharing with others."



http://www.traineo.com/
"traineo is a free and simple website that gives you the motivation and support to reach your weight loss and fitness goals."

I hope you've enjoyed looking through these great sites. Look out for future Surf's Up features where I'll be looking at other areas of the internet and what it has to offer. If you want to keep track of sites I find follow me on twitter @kunji.

Kunji

Social networking for business?

We like this article from the BBC - Firms 'miss' social site success.

It gives a great summary of the importance of social networking in the world of business today, giving examples of how companies have improved productivity and effectiveness through the use of social sites.

Worth a read.