I wonder if this might signal the exact opposite of what a shopper is looking for. Instead of clothing being an expression of unique individuality, he or she sees the huge number of people who have 'liked,' and possibly purchased the same item. Not that customers are normally fooled of course, but the volume of sales aren't usually brought to their attention so directly.
Which requires the reference to the xkcd (If you're quick with a knife, you'll find the invisible hand is made of delicious invisible meat):
I hope it's the latter, because the former would seem to me to be a hilarious case of trying to compete with etailers at their game, without realising what a flawed strategy that is. But I've met plenty of people I can imagine thinking it's a good idea, so unsure.
Either way, the geek in me loves what they've physically done.
You may be thinking of it wrong. Online has advantages, brick-and-mortar has advantages. If brick-and-mortar can start to take away some of the advantages of online, they can out-compete by virtue of their natural advantages.
On the other hand, people who are put off by the idea that thousands of other people bought the same shirt aren't so likely to shop at chains like C&A anyway.
... ah, Foodspotting is the website, and Oink is a mobile app that does a similar thing.
They drive more people to their Facebook page to like something which will drive more people to the page and store.
Of course, of this happens, it'll be a short lived novelty. We'll see how much this helps afterwards.
But it will grow a lot, with forecasts saying it will be about 60 to 70% by the end of 2014.
For now, mobile internet is somewhat restrict so showing some initiative in this area is good for the C&A brand, because it associates it with a feeling of status, which normally doesn't come when one is thinking about C&A. So good for them. I haven't seen the hangers in the stores yet but will check them out (and try to see the counter going up) soon.
Edit: I do think it's an interesting start, and at the very least I'm sure it will look good to marketing by encouraging more people to "like" what they buy– whether or not that leads to more buyers in the end I don't know.
http://www.springwise.com/fashion_beauty/brazilian-fashion-r...
