In an effort to harness the potential of social networks for identifying and disseminating consumer-relevant information, online bookseller
Borders.com has turned to worldwide leader in hosted social commerce applications
Bazaarvoice.
Announced yesterday, Borders main e-commerce site will become an interactive platform designed to encourage customers to reveal their likes and dislikes, recommend their favourites and voice their pet-hates or yawns amongst the books, music and DVDs on offer. The feature is provided by Bazaarvoice's
Ratings & Reviews? technology.
Kevin Ertell, senior vice president of e-business for Borders Group observes that, ?When you walk through a Borders store, you quickly realize that customer conversations are an essential part of the shopping experience.? In an endeavour to draw the practical consequences of this statement, Borders.com aims to move beyond the status of the online shop to become a place where readers can congregate to indulge their common interests available under its banner.
In an effort to integrate the online with the offline shopping experience, the site will be accessible on existing computer kiosks in all Borders superstores. The ratings and reviews functionality is currently being promoted to members of the Borders customer loyalty program, as well as through a new
http://www.borders.com/ratings splash page giving tips on how to best write a review.
There is at least one other motive. ?In promoting Borders.com and the new ratings and reviews capabilities to members of its Borders Rewards customer loyalty program, which now number more than 26 million, Borders is helping create a new e-commerce experience ? one focused around customers? needs, goals and opinions,? says Ertell.
By investing in Bazaarvoice?s social commerce applications, Borders hopes not only to promote its brand image, but also to learn from customer-generated reviews and exchanges in order to construct a more faithful picture of customer demand, adding better market research to the perceived benefits of the project.