Maybe two years ago, when I was still working for an eTailer, "social shopping" became kind of the new buzz-word around town.
Social networking needed to be adapted into everything and, with women being the most active shoppers and gossipers, the connection of social shopping - a way of sharing your online shopping experience with friends - was an obvious one.
Many marketeers just assumed that women would happily sit in front of their computers at home, have a cup of tea and combine shopping with chatting to their best firend, whilst not having any worries at all.
I don't doubt that there are people like that, but it never took off and I doubt it will. The reason is that online shopping is simply fast, easy and anonymous. No standing in line, no filtering through piles of clothes, no need to have a coffee and stretch your legs. So why would you want to take a friend along?
Sure, the do-you-think-this-looks-good-on-me question is still something that you'd like to have answered, but that answer must come pretty much immediately and who can expect their friends to lurk on the social networking site ready to pounce on your "Can I wear this?" - question with a definite yes or no answer.
It won't even start working if you'd pay your visitors for such free PR and back-linking, because how much (net-revenue) have you got to give that you can incentevise links and make a margin?
Anyways, I think I will build and affiliate scheme onto BadgerComp, simply so that the Cart has everything :)