Buy.com is the first in the 50 highest-raking Internet Retailer Top 500 sites to Support Real-Time Interactive Shopping
Beltsville, MD (June 15, 2009) - DecisionStep® today announced a partnership to deploy its ShopTogether® social shopping application on leading e-commerce site Buy.com and co-develop future iterations with the top-50 e-tailer. Until now, one of the biggest barriers for online retailing has been the inability for shoppers to easily and quickly get opinions from friends and family on potential purchases. Since an overwhelming majority of consumers trust a friend’s recommendation over expert opinions, critics’ reviews or advertising(1), the solitary nature of online shopping and the inability to quickly and easily get a peer’s opinion can be frustrating for consumers and potentially costly for retailers.
The ShopTogether technology removes that barrier by allowing one or more people to share an online shopping experience in real-time, from computers across town or around the world. Beyond link-sharing or screen-sharing, ShopTogether lets users simultaneously view products together and chat. Customers view and use the site just as before-but with the added benefit of connecting instantly to their friends through Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, e-mail or an instant message window. Once the invitation is accepted, ShopTogether joins users for a real-time shopping experience. Shoppers can chat, share product views, compare items and even create a mutual favorites list of the items they like.
“We’ve found that replicating the fun and interactive aspects of offline shopping in the online environment improves the customer experience and the retailer’s business metrics,” said John Jackson, CEO of DecisionStep. “The ShopTogether partnership with Buy.com is real evidence that pioneering online retailers see value in connecting their customers in real time.”
“Buy.com is on the forefront of developing unique programs to improve the online shopping experience and in using social media tools to connect with our customers, so exploring a ShopTogether implementation is a natural evolution for us,” said Neel Grover, President and CEO, Buy.com. “DecisionStep’s innovative approach to help online shoppers get opinions from their friends and family makes the company an ideal partner to help us take the Buy.com shopping experience to a new level.”
About DecisionStep
Headquartered outside of Washington DC, DecisionStep is a technology company focused on interactive decision-support tools. The company’s mission is to make online businesses successful by providing hosted, innovative solutions that help consumers make better decisions faster.
DecisionStep’s revolutionary solution called ShopTogether provides real-time, social interaction to consumers so they can be part of each other’s web experience and decision - increasing order value for retailers and giving a shopper the confidence they need to buy! Visit
DecisionStep online at www.decisionstep.com.
About Buy.com
Buy.com is a retail marketplace with more than 12 million customer accounts, focused on providing its customers with a rewarding shopping experience and a broad selection of high-quality technology and entertainment retail goods at competitive prices. Buy.com offers millions of products in a range of categories, including consumer electronics, computer hardware and software, cell phones, books, music, videos, games, toys, bags, fragrance, home and outdoor, baby, jewelry, shoes, apparel and sporting goods. Founded in June of 1997, Buy.com is located in Aliso Viejo, California. Buy.com® and The Internet SuperstoreTM are trademarks of Buy.com Inc. Buy.com currently competes with a variety of companies that can be divided into two broad categories: (i) retailers and ecommerce marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon and Wal-Mart and (ii) specialty retailers or manufacturers such as Barnes & Noble, Best Buy and Dell.
(1) Recommendations from family and friends trump all other consumer touchpoints when it comes to influencing purchases, according to ZenithOptimedia. (AdAge, April, 2008); “Person like me” still most trusted source for information about a company and, therefore, products. (Edelman Trust Barometer, November 2007); Consumers trust friends above experts when it comes to product recommendations (65% trust friends, 27% trust experts, 8% trust celebrities). (Yankelovich); Online social network users were three times more likely to trust their peers’ opinions over advertising when making purchase decisions. (“Social Networking Sites: Defining Advertising Opportunities in a Competitive Landscape,” JupiterResearch, March 2007)
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