Building Community

Handcrafted online retailer Etsy’s VP of Community talks to Shop.org about his company’s mission and his own passions.

Meanwhile, the trend toward group shopping noted in our last post continues with a new venue: FriendShopper.com

The site offers instant messaging and content sharing to simulate the live shopping experience, including chatting with multiple friends simultaneously. Best news for online retailers: FriendShopper can be used in conjunction with any online storefront.
 
Shoppers drag-and-drop the FriendShopper bookmarklet into the browser toolbar and click the bookmarklet button whenever they find an item to save or share. FriendShopper will add the item to the user’s "My Items" page, and clicking on the "Add to Chat" button allows him or her to instantaneously share that item with a friend. Notifications and thumbnail images appear anytime a friend shares an item with the user. Users can make folders and customize names, plus they can search for retailers or specific products by keyword without leaving the website, and shoppers can add their favorite stores to their FriendShopper profile.