CanadaIT.com (full disclosure - the site is a subsidiary of IT in Canada) is currently featuring an excellent article on the impact of social on the future of retail.

"Winning over the digitally-empowered consumer," by Pinar Cardwell, an Associate Partner with IBM's Retail Consulting Practice, uses results from three different IBM research initiatives - studies of consumers, CMOs, and CEOs - to frame a discussion of how retail can and should use analytics and social technology to create stronger links with a changing customer community.

The article centres around the notion that "retailers are gaining traction as they begin to gain trust – which is the strongest driver of both advocacy and spend," and provides guidance on how to assemble the key components of a retail strategy targeting the mobile consumer. It includes examples from two global retailers (Staples and Lee Jeans), and two Canadian web-based consumer resources, yellowpages.ca and SHOP.CA.

Many of the points in here will be familiar to followers of ITMD's SoLoMoN research - and whether you are or aren't in that category, the article is well worth a read!

Winning over the digitally empowered consumer can be found at: canadait.com/?t1=1&n_id=25399

In today's fast-paced world I don't think it's surprising that the study found that "consumers expect to engage with merchants when and how they want, online and on the go." This is trend that is taking hold not just in retail but in other areas such as television and entertainment as well.

People no longer want to be told to watch their favourite TV show every Tuesday at 8pm - instead they are PVRing the show, watching it OnDemand or going to the internet to watch online at a time that is convenient for them "when and how they want" it.

But back to retail...

As the article states, there is a "growing movement among consumers to use social media to build communities with others who share their interests and tastes, and who consume the same."

I think what it comes down to is that word of mouth marketing is still king. If your friend recommends you a product or service and shares a positive experience with you, you're more likely to purchase that product or service than if a stranger or some advertisement tells you to buy - social media is just the updated digital version of 'word of mouth'.

Everyone wants and trusts what their friends are talking about - whether that conversation is face-to-face or facebook-to-facebook.