Remember the days when you had to actually go shopping when you needed something? You would drive all the way to the mall, brace hoards of shoppers and search endlessly for your product of choice. Then after you got home, you would open your new purchase only to find out that it was nothing like what it looked like on the box. And even worse, it barely worked!

Luckily for us, times have changed. Today buying your goods is as simple as a click of a mouse. Just make your purchase online and wait for it to make its way to your door. And even better, you can read product reviews and opinions beforehand, so you know exactly what you’re getting into.

Now the idea of social commerce is about to go even one step further. Internet search engines Bing and Google are launching Social Search Result updates to include information from your social network in your search results, everything from Facebook “Likes” and  comments to YouTube videos, tweets and blog  posts. So next time you start a search, you may just find your friends’ advice to help you make your purchasing decision.

This is a win-win situation for consumers, but what does it mean for retailers? False advertising simply doesn’t stand a chance in this new shopping age. Hopefully, marketing firms will discover ways to sell their products while remaining truthful to product performance.

Regardless of what direction this takes us, one thing is for sure: thanks to social media, your shopping experience will never be the same. To learn more, check out this article.