مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

in web technologies, cloud computing, and mobile communications provide great opportunities for companies to develop new businesses, processes, products, and services. Social shopping is one type of e-commerce that combines product/service sales with consumer participation in a social network environment where constructive relationships are formed between consumers and local merchants (Lee, Yoo, Choi, & Shon, 2015). Social shopping has the potential to change the marketing strategies of merchants in many business sectors, including health and wellness, education, and restaurants.

Social shopping intermediaries not only provide information reach and richness to customers and participating merchants but also make use of social media and various online communities via which consumers can exchange opinions on products and merchants (Ghose & Ipeirotis, 2009). Such exchange of opinions in online communities is known as electronic word-of-mouth, or eWOM. Consumergenerated product/merchant reviews on social networking sites and other online communities can have a positive impact on trust and the purchase intentions of users. To support users’ browsing and increase their stickiness, social networking sites have enabled a number of features, such as user profiles, blogs, and tags (Holsing & Olbrich, 2012).

Health and wellness merchants promote individuals’ health and well-being. Increasing life expectancy of the growing middle class and their awareness of health and wellness are driving growth of the health and wellness industry. According to Statista (n.d.), the biggest segment in the global wellness industry is beauty and anti-aging, with revenue of over $1 trillion in 2013; close behind are the nutrition and weight loss, wellness tourism, and fitness segments. Another segment commonly linked with wellness is the spa industry. In 2013, the spa industry in the United States generated revenue of approximately $15 billion, representing a total of 164 million visits made to 20,000 spas nationwide.