Facebook as a Shopping Tool

This is a post written by Avishai Shuter, and up-and-coming zoologist who lives in his parents house while waiting to hear back from the Bronx Zoo.

I recently discovered something amazing. It involves things everyone loves: business with a personal touch, great customer service, and big, big savings. I was hesitant at first, but you shouldn’t be: Like your favorite stores on Facebook. Right Now.

Let me share a story with you, about how I paid $25 for a $109.99 product, just by asking. One of my favorite online stores, HockeyMonkey.com, has a promotion on their Facebook page called the Wicked Daily Deal (they also provide fans with contests and codes for sales). What they do is look around their office for something that’s been sitting around a while, then they throw it up on the Facebook page for absurd prices on a first-come first-serve basis.

Someone gets a great product at a great price, and HockeyMonkey gets to sell products that are just gathering dust – everyone wins. These deals range from eh, that’s a pretty good deal, to I feel bad for practically stealing this item from them.

So now for my story. I had dabbled in the Wicked Daily Deal earlier in the year, purchasing a hockey stick bag (a $15-20 value) for $3. I check these deals almost daily, but hadn’t seen something I really needed for a while. But, with hockey season coming up, I needed a new pair of shoulder pads.

Last week, I took advantage of an opportunity that fans of the Facebook page have, and spoke directly to the company on an essentially first name basis. I just wrote a post on the Wall saying that I would love a new pair of shoulder pads for a great price. When was the last time you walked into an American Eagle and said, I’d like these jeans, but on sale please?

Yeah, that’s what I thought. But, having great customer service, HockeyMonkey just said, no problem. They looked around their office and found some shoulder pads that had been sitting around for a few years (they were Easton Synergy 900 pads, if you care). These top-of-the-line pads originally cost $109.99, a price I would never consider paying. But, HockeyMonkey offered them to me for a measly $25. A jaw-dropping deal. The pads should be delivered at some point today, and I can’t wait.

I hope that a few lessons can be learned from this experience. First, and most obviously, Like your favorite companies on Facebook. It gives you an outlet (in many cases) to speak candidly to representatives of the companies, bypassing the usual corporate facade you need to face-off with whenever you call or deal with big companies in person. I can’t praise HockeyMonkey enough for the effort they put into their Facebook page; all their fans greatly appreciate it.

Also, don’t be afraid to ask! It can never hurt, because the worst-case scenario is simply a ‘no,’ and you’ll be right back where you started, no harm done.

The ability to just speak to a company in an informal, one-on-one way is an incredibly freeing experience. Next, I really hope that more big companies will take the initiative and adopt programs like this one. It seems that HockeyMonkey is really ahead of the curve, but I can’t wait for the day when other companies to catch up.