The gamble being made here is that customers want to buy clothing that is popular.
I wonder if this might signal the exact opposite of what a shopper is looking for. Instead of clothing being an expression of unique individuality, he or she sees the huge number of people who have 'liked,' and possibly purchased the same item. Not that customers are normally fooled of course, but the volume of sales aren't usually brought to their attention so directly.
Well, from a women's perspective certainly in terms of mainstream shopping environments I would generalize that shoppers want to know that what they are buying conforms to the status quo. So, in the right environment a Like button could do very well to increase sales of certain items. Those who are comfortable buying on their own taste level will likely be turned off by a Like button or would be shopping in another kind of area, such as second hand or locally made. There are also things such as bras and underwear that are Liked because of how comfortable or effective they are: women definitely like to share this information.
While carefully side-stepping an obvious joke about hipsters, if this was a problem careful analysing of stats could get around it, theoretically to a point of having dummy products shown to be hugely popular while items they want to sell artificially un-popular and therefore cool in their exclusivity.
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The gamble being made here is that customers want to buy clothing that is popular.
I wonder if this might signal the exact opposite of what a shopper is looking for. Instead of clothing being an expression of unique individuality, he or she sees the huge number of people who have 'liked,' and possibly purchased the same item. Not that customers are normally fooled of course, but the volume of sales aren't usually brought to their attention so directly.
Doesn't this also help customers who want to buy clothing that is less likely to be seen on other people?
Which requires the reference to the xkcd (If you're quick with a knife, you'll find the invisible hand is made of delicious invisible meat):
http://xkcd.com/958/
Well, from a women's perspective certainly in terms of mainstream shopping environments I would generalize that shoppers want to know that what they are buying conforms to the status quo. So, in the right environment a Like button could do very well to increase sales of certain items. Those who are comfortable buying on their own taste level will likely be turned off by a Like button or would be shopping in another kind of area, such as second hand or locally made. There are also things such as bras and underwear that are Liked because of how comfortable or effective they are: women definitely like to share this information.
While carefully side-stepping an obvious joke about hipsters, if this was a problem careful analysing of stats could get around it, theoretically to a point of having dummy products shown to be hugely popular while items they want to sell artificially un-popular and therefore cool in their exclusivity.
That is the whole idea behind fashion. There is a big difference between fashion and style.