» Does Online Social Networking Influence your Buying Habits?
Because it sure does for me. Where else can you get instant feedback from people you trust about what movie to watch, car to buy, the best vacation spots… This is called “Peervertising” – marketing influenced by your peers. As a long time contributor to the Fountain Pen Network, I know that forum in particular has been extremely helpful in my finding products to feed my art supply/paper/pen addiction. I mean hobby.
As specialty stores are becoming harder and harder to come by, many people like me are having to shop online to find new and replacement products. As the cost of postage continues to rise, it’s not uncommon to have to add $10 to the cost of a $8 item to have the luxury of being able to buy that item at all. (If it’s not something you can buy locally.) The ability to quickly receive feedback on any given item from my peers on sites like Facebook and Twitter is priceless. I can’t tell you how many times someone saved me time or money because I posted a comment along the lines of, “What do you think of…”
What say you? Do you share your own buying experiences online and in turn, rely on your friends and family for help in finding products or services that are right for you?
Comments
Absolutely. With the economy so bad, I can’t afford to waste money, both on products I can’t use and exorbitant shipping costs. I have to buy in bulk to justify the shipping. So trusted reviewers who’ve proven their accuracy are VERY important to me
I don’t think I’m really influenced that much by my peers. What I find is I refine my shopping tactics; comparison shopping, coupons code hunting, discount hunting, product information gathering are usually enhanced by communicating with my peers.
What I really like is that customer service ratings and product quality on any company and product is only one click away. I usually ignore the really bad stories and the really good stories discounting them as outliers. The mid range is usually true. So, If I was going to buy a product but the quality wasn’t good I might choose something else; the same goes for customer service I like to get a heads up on poor service firms.
Absolutely. I would have never tried Moleskines if it had not been for the internet. I haven’t tried Rhodia yet, but I may add one into my next Moleskine order to give one a try.
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