How To: Get Deals On Social Shopping Sites

“Get it now! Your friends are all doing it!” That’s the message that many social shopping sites scream – and the message works. Social shopping is changing the way businesses view themselves, and the way that people interact around shopping.

Usually, a retailer has to spend lots of money getting their message out, says Utpal Dholakia, associate professor of management at Rice University. “But with social networking, those retailers no longer have to spend money and time – they just let the networks do that for them.” He says that people always have the desire to tell their friends about interesting things – and what better to share with them than deals or things to do together.

Dholakia warns the deal-makers, though, to be careful. He studied different Groupon offers , and found that a significant number of offers ended up not working well for the company. “Deals work best when two things happen: you get new customers AND those customers return again.” For the consumers, the best experiences happen when they get good service and a deal, but small stores can get overwhelmed by an onslaught of a thousand new people.

Other retailers are also trying the social shopping game – even Walmart has a facebook fan page where you can sign up for deals and swap tips with other shoppers. Social shopping is here to stay, so here are some of our favorite sites!