Get Inspired - How retailers are using social media

March 6th, 2008 by Kelly Rusk

Chapters-Indigo’s Online Community

Chapters-Indigo has made the bold move of starting its own community for “booklovers” (apparently it’s one word to Chapters). Closely tied to its online store the community is a ‘meeting’ place for book lovers to connect and share.

What it does: Allows you to connect with other book lovers. You can post content (like a blog), rate and review books, join groups and find ‘friends’.

Chapters Online Community Usability: Love the div overlays — no page re-loading so it works fast. However I wasn’t too impressed with the site search - when I was adding books I read, I couldn’t remember the spelling of a well-known author. It couldn’t help me; I had to consult my good friend Google. Generally I found the navigation a little awkward. I didn’t give it much of a chance though, so it could be more intuitive once you poke around a bit. Social bonus points for integrating RSS, send to a friend and del.icio.us bookmarking.

Community: I found it hard to find others like me. If I knew a lot of people already on the site, perhaps it would be easier. Also I wish they promoted the ratings and reviews better, that’s what would really draw me in as a user, and the most value I would get out of this social site vs. others.

What it’s great for: Finding new books to read. It’s a risky move to go into the book store and buy a book you haven’t heard of. Here you can read others’ reviews and ratings and find people like you. And obviously a great idea for Chapters-Indigo, since they sell books!

What it’s lacking: A distinct site apart from chapters.indigo.com. I suppose the point is to keep it closely tied with the online store, but it feels like I’m in a store, not a community siteWhen I go to a store, I go to shop, not to meet and hang out with other people. It’s no different on the web. I think it could have been designed differently but still tied into the store as much as possible with functionality.

Success potential: High. I didn’t spend a lot of time searching, but I don’t see much competition. People love to talk books, so creating an online community around is a brilliant idea and it seems it’s being promoted very well on the site. Also Chapters-Indigo has made it very easy to buy books you find interesting from the site, which allows it tie a dollar amount to the success of the community.

Big thanks to Mel Gallant of Women 2.0 who tipped me off to this site, via Twitter.

Posted in Customer Experience, Kelly Rusk, Social Media, eCommerce |

4 Responses

Carolyn Gardner Says:

March 6th, 2008 at 5:07 pm

Many of my friends have “book clubs” where they meet monthly (or whatever) to chat about various books they’re all reading. Of course, a second key priority is wine - red, white, so many decisions! Oh and there’s the snacks too! But I digress…

This online community of booklovers (ya that is odd spelling) is very much the virtual equivalent, don’t you think. Instead of meeting at Nancy’s house, you meet online!

Best part - you don’t have to worry about drinking and driving home after sharing your thoughts with fellow book readers…

I agree with Kelly, this could be hot!

Melany Gallant Says:

March 6th, 2008 at 5:47 pm

The site lets you upload all your fav books, books you want to read, and even your top 10 books. The only thing about the community I find “faulty” is that I can’t select my top 10 books from my list of fav books. I have to manually search (again) for the books to enter them. But beyond that - the community is fun.

Another book community to check out is Shelfari - http://www.shelfari.com

Kelly Says:

March 10th, 2008 at 10:59 am

“you don’t have to worry about drinking and driving home after sharing your thoughts with fellow book readers..”

Haha Carolyn, maybe not, but you might worry about drinking alone at your house!

Melany– Thanks for your comments (and sharing this in the first place!) I’ll check out Shelfari and see how it compares to this one. (Maybe there’s a follow up coming?)

Melany Gallant Says:

March 13th, 2008 at 2:50 pm

It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on Shelfari. They’ve been around for about a year (I think). A bit easier to organize and search for your fav books. And of course you can integrate your book list to your blog. They may even have a Facebook widget but I’m not sure.