Ask HN: Does social shopping work?

In real life, shopping is sometimes social, but sometimes its not. There are times when you want to ask friends' advice before you buy, or want to show off things that you buy, or just see what they are buying. But sometimes you don't want to do these things - and it's very personal.

But for the times when it's social, a lot of can be done in online world. Many companies have tried it, but somehow something is still missing. I still believe that current online social shopping is not done correctly.

So I'm currently trying to bring a fresh new approach of social shopping experience on the web. I've some plans and vision. But before going in that direction, the first thing I want to do is validate the potential customers. I'm trying to understand if people really want this thing? So I'm asking fellow HNers..

Do you believe social shopping work online? If yes, how you want to use it?

IMO, the important aspects of social shopping are - i) Discovery and ii) Sharing.

What is important to you?

I think people are already sharing lots of shopping information already on different services on the web - like Twitter, Facebook, etc. But what about Discovery?

I believe social shopping works, but when it comes to you, rather than you going towards it.

What are your expectations? What do you think is still missing or needs to be done correctly? Please discuss. Your inputs will be very valuable to brainstorm on how I try to solve this problem.

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.