Conversion Rates

The world of online shopping is one that I am a self proclaimed addict of.  When I am shopping in a store I almost always feel like my purchases are impulse buys.  I always convince myself that I really need the item only to realize later that I didn't really NEED the item.  Also, when shopping in stores, you can never compare things with other stores.  I can never decide which I like better and which is the better deal.  

I have worked retail at The Gap for almost a year and I have now come to enjoy shopping less.  I feel so guilty looking through everything because then I will make so much work for the employees and I would hate to know I contributed to their bad days.  While working in The Gap, I would eye the customers who would walk around picking things up and completely taking them out of their perfectly folded state and then throwing them back on to the pile.  As a shopper, it is your right to look through everything in the store.  However, for those who have worked retail, shopping becomes less enjoyable because you are always trying to make things look exactly as they did before you touched them.  I go into the fitting rooms, try something on, then hang them, zip them, button them, tie them exactly as I picked them up.  Shopping becomes work instead of leisure.  

I have found that shopping online lets me really think about what I want and shop around.  I spend as much time on the sites and revisit them as much as I want.  Right now there are about ten things I am really considering buying online but I just haven't made the decision about what the most reasonable purchase is.   I know I will not be swayed by employees trying to convince me to buy something and I don't feel bad going through the entire store looking at everything.  

If you looked at the conversion rate of a web site in comparison to the conversion rate of a retail store it would be clear which does the best business.  While working at The Gap, we often aimed to have our conversion at around 50%.  Since the Internet is much more easily accessible more people can look.  However, less people tend to buy because there is no pressure.  There isn't anyone waiting on you or telling you that the dress looks amazing on your body.  Some people need reassurance before they commit to buying something which is taken care of by employees.  Social retailing yields higher profits.  Although people are turning more and more to the Internet for shopping there will always be a need for personal interaction in the marketplace.

Too Many Friends on Facebook

The summer before going off to college, I was bombarded with about 100 or so friend requests from people who were in my class.  Although excited, I had no idea who these people were.  While it looked like I was already friends with a bunch of people at my school, these people only added to confusion later.  The mass amounts of people who I was friends with on Facebook only turned out to be awkward encounters around campus.  "Hey! I recognize you from Facebook!" isn't the best way to start out a conversation in college.  Not only do you look like a stalker but it only provides for the following conversation to consist of "yah? cool" and then an awkward goodbye.  For some reason every incoming class feels the responsibility to be connected to as many people as they can within their grade.  However, as the management review entitled 'Six Myths About Informal Networks' says, more connectivity could lead to more confusion because people feel 'bogged down' with all the relationships.  

I may have actually talked to about three or four people who friended me on Facebook before I came to American but I still accepted all one hundred of them as my friends. The people I actually had conversations with on Facebook were good resources for me.  I realized that other people were in the same boat as I was.  There were quite a few girls coming from Texas like I was and I was comforted but I definitely didn't have something in common with all one hundred people who I was friends with.  I only got confused when I saw someone and thought I had met them before, but really, I only briefly looked at their profiles on Facebook when I was friended by them. 

Being too connected could hinder performance.  A single person can only remember so many names and only multi task so much.  Networks should remain as simple as possible to make the company run efficiently.  You need to not be overwhelmed by your social network.  The more comfortable you feel with it, the more you will be able to use it productively.  By the time I had too  many friends, I decided that it was nearly impossible to stay in touch with every person from my high school.  Eventually I just stopped posting on other peoples walls.  I rarely check Facebook because there are just too many people to keep up with.  The same could occur with an employee of a company.  There is such a thing as being too connected. 

Day one of many

Hi all. This is my new blog which I am writing for my second class in IT called Social Networking. I will be blogging once a week on different topics relating to the class and our readings. I am a sophomore in college and just really getting interested in Information Technology so I am excited about this class and what I will learn and subsequently write about each week.

On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own.
Katie Acuff