Social commerce initiatives help multi-channel retailer positively impact its shopping experience by listening and responding to customers
AUSTIN, Texas, Jul 27, 2010—Bazaarvoice, the market and technology leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, today announced that ShopNBC is successfully using Bazaarvoice’s social commerce platform. ShopNBC uses Bazaarvoice’s Ratings & Reviews to connect and engage with its customers and positively impact the shopping experience.
ShopNBC connects with over 1 million shoppers across a network of TV, online, social and mobile platforms, and through national guest experts and brands, is an authority in beauty, jewelry, home, electronics, health, fitness, watches, and fashion. ShopNBC customers interact with the network by reading and sharing user generated opinions on a wide range of products. Customers also browse their online “Customer Choice” boutique of top-rated items and have the option of purchasing “Customer Choice” items when they air on TV.
As part of ongoing efforts to enhance its social commerce, ShopNBC leverages new strategies to incorporate the customer’s voice which result in building trust, creating community, and delivering a more interactive shopping experience. ShopNBC has developed a multi-channel program to share customer feedback across its TV and online platforms, and is also leveraging customer reviews to assist in its merchandise planning and Customer Service initiatives.
“Social media is one of the keys to creating customer engagement with our brand,” said Carol Steinberg, Senior Vice President of E-commerce, Marketing and Business Development at ShopNBC. “Bazaarvoice has been a valuable tool for connecting with our customer and giving them the opportunity to interact with us in a meaningful way. In addition, social commerce allows us to have a finger on the pulse of the customer allowing us to make positive changes to the shopping experience by listening to the customer.”
Multi-Channel Impact
ShopNBC is leveraging Ratings & Reviews through its multiple sales channels by having “Customer Choice” items appear both on TV and online. ShopNBC hosts and guest experts encourage customers to check out additional top-rated items in its online boutique, and there is a commerce programming strategy to air approximately five “Customer Choice” products on TV every day. By featuring customer testimonials across its multi-media shopping platforms, ShopNBC is able to improve its performance and the quality of its overall shopping experience.
Merchandising Insight
ShopNBC rolled out Bazaarvoice’s Ratings & Reviews in August 2007. Since its launch, the network closely monitors all reviews as part of its commitment to listening to and learning from its customer base. For example, a link to view actual case sizes is now included in all watch descriptions, allowing customers to cut out actual watch sizes from a PDF to determine scale on their wrists. ShopNBC also sends monthly Bazaarvoice Analysis Reports to its merchant teams that provide merchandising insight into sales performance, as well as guidance for future sales planning. Reports are accompanied with a clear and concise synopsis that includes the number of reviews submitted, number of products reviewed, highest reviewed items, lowest reviewed items, and high-priority concerns or patterns derived from reviews. ShopNBC uses this data as leading indicators when reordering or purchasing similar styles of 5-star products.
Customer Service Gains
ShopNBC’s processes and focus on customer reviews positively impacts its Customer Service department. For example, Customer Service is alerted to customer reviews and identifies opportunities to resolve the issue. The customer is contacted, their questions are answered, and the issues are resolved.
“The response to this effort has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Steinberg. “We are listening to the customer and proactively addressing their concerns. Through this effort, ShopNBC has been able to increase customer loyalty, build strong personal connections with our brand, and encourage positive word of mouth.”
“ShopNBC is part of a growing group of forward-thinking retailers who understand the nearly limitless, transformative power of social commerce,” said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice. “It is exciting to see the ways that ShopNBC is using our proven social commerce product suite to bring more innovation to their core business. Delivering better products, delivering more personalized service, and gaining consumer mindshare in today’s competitive retail environment is a must. We are very proud to partner with them in their efforts to be successful in this new era of digital word of mouth with its transformative impact on commerce.”
About ShopNBC
ShopNBC is a multi-media retailer operating with a premium lifestyle brand. Over 1 million customers benefit from ShopNBC as an authority and destination in the categories of home, electronics, beauty, health, fitness, fashion, jewelry and watches. As part of the company’s “ShopNBC Anywhere” initiative, customers can interact and shop via cable and satellite TV in 76 million homes (DISH Network channels 134 and 228; DIRECTV channel 316); mobile devices including iPhone, BlackBerry and Droid; online at www.ShopNBC.com; live streaming at www.ShopNBC.TV; and social networking sites Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. ShopNBC is owned and operated by ValueVision Media.
About Bazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice’s Software as a Service (SaaS) social commerce solutions have served more than 125 billion pieces of customer-generated content on more than 850 brand web sites like Best Buy, Blue Shield of California, Costco, Dell, Macy’s, P&G, Panasonic, QVC, and USAA in 36 countries. The company connects organizations to their influencers through a unique network that reaches hundreds of millions of consumers around the globe, enabling authentic customer-powered marketing. Through syndication, analytics, partnerships, and consulting, Bazaarvoice brings the voice of the customer to the center of their clients’ business strategy, proving “social” can drive measured revenue growth and cost savings for manufacturing, retail, travel, and financial services companies. Headquartered in Austin, the company has offices in Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, London, Paris, Singapore, and Sydney. For more information and access to client success stories, visit www.bazaarvoice.com, read the blog at www.bazaarvoice.com/blog, and follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bazaarvoice.