Watch List Notifications

Watch Lists and Notifications

Within a buying group eCommerce group, it's important to intuitively engage with the members. Think of an event; you are talking with the members, having a review and then giving them advice based on your understanding of the industry and then how they're performing within that industry. Watch list notifications are essentially a way to convey the business logic and the knowledge that the buying group is accumulating and share that information with the group in a very tactical way. As an example, one of the things that a member may be interested in seeing is a notification about what their purchasing looks like compared to others in their same industry.

Vendor Notifications

In addition to the members, it's also possible that the vendors may want to receive notifications. It might be helpful for the actual sellers of the products to receive notifications about how expensive their items are relative to their ratings and reviews. They could also get information about how much their competitors are selling on the site.

Now again, the buying group may not want to share certain sensitive information. The concept though, is being able to provide macro level data that it's collected. Specific information can be removed where needed, but otherwise providing that data allows the members and vendors to figure out the best practices and what's working best for the group as a whole. In other words, they can learn from each other and they can learn from what's working well for others in the community buying group.

Content of Notifications

Ultimately, some of these notifications can be very simple. Someone can get a biweekly or monthly notification. Most people will prefer to be able to set the frequency of their notifications. They could also desire notifications telling them what others are purchasing when the items are similar to their own business model. This can help them understand what is working within the marketplace and among their competitors.

As a buyer, you may want to be notified when someone purchases an item similar to the one you’re considering purchasing. This can lead the buyer to finding an item that better suits their needs, or perhaps even lead them to finding a new vendor they will like to shop from. This type of notification has the ability to save the buyer a lot of money or even find something higher quality, without them having to dive deep into the marketplace themselves; these notifications cut out some of the hard work in the purchasing process.

As a vendor, being notified that another item is being purchased over yours can help drive you towards needed change. You can change your performance as a vendor, and possibly modify your item to better entice customers. Ultimately, a simple notification like this can do a lot for all parties within the marketplace.

Another type of notification would be one regarding a big rebate or about a large sale. These notifications can help vendors sell their stock and keep their consumers aware of the status of their items. The buyer can also ensure they’re getting the best deal, be informed an item on their watch list is back in stock, or even if something is nearly out of stock.

Watch Lists

In addition, it's possible to set up a watch list. Watch lists are really powerful as a concept because a buyer can run a filter on the search, set criteria for that filter, and then set a watch list based on those filter criteria. They could then get notified if new items get added to the list that meet those filter criteria. This helps folks know if new products come into a particular category that they're interested in. A watch list can be used for individual products too.

The idea behind watch lists is that a user can set up a list of criteria, where they can be provided information at a desired and set frequency. They can choose to be notified periodically, be it hourly, daily, weekly, and so on.

Again, they can receive these watch list notifications in a variety of ways. They can receive emails, dashboard notifications, texts, or calls in order to keep them up to date on their watch list.

Clarity Marketplace Experts

We hope we’ve helped you understand that there are a lot of different options available for interacting with the users via notifications. Having watch lists that allow them to have robust access to information that you think makes sense is highly beneficial, and we encourage you to consider it as you grow and scale your buying group ecommerce platform. It's possible to cater these specifically for needs that apply just to your buying group and customize them if they're there.

We encourage you to reach out to us here at Clarity if you have any questions or would like to review with us. Furthermore, we have provided further resources below to help you make the most informed decision regarding your eCommerce platform.