Paul Chaney Reviews 10+ F-Commerce Platforms
Incase you’ve missed it, the ever-insightful Paul Chaney, social media consultant, and contributor to Practical E-Commerce is running a series of articles reviewing the growing number of social media store/storefront applications that allow businesses to sell directly within social media – primarily Facebook.
In the first three articles (one, two, three), Paul has cast a critical eye over 1o such social commerce platforms.
- Pavyment (example: Syzygy)
- BigCommerce (SocialShop) (example: Maxigrip)
- Volusion (Social Store Builder) (example: Panna Dolce)
- 3DCart (example: SaltWaterFish)
- Voiyk (example: Salud Cookware)
- ShopTab (example:Little Butterfly Kiss)
- SortPrice (Facebook Store) (example: Petco)
- Shoutlet
- My Merch Store (Zazzle) (example: Mari Smith)
- LetMeIntroduce
Paul’s next article is billed to focus on fully-fledged f-commerce applications with integrated transactions – allowing transactions to take place within Facebook itself. We think it’ll be these one-stop-shop platforms that will take f-commerce mainstream – so we’re looking forward to his review.
Paul, thank you for riffing about the series I'm doing. I appreciate it and I know I speak for everyone at Practical Ecommerce when I that.
Just as an FYI, in September we're going to be doing a webinar on the topic of social commerce with a specific focus on f-commerce. If you don't mind me sharing the link, here's where you can get more info: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/webinars/41-500…
Thanks again for expanding the conversation. I hope you know how much I respect this blog. I know of no one who covers the social commerce space better than you.
Payvment seems to have the most distinguished offering, with their Open Cart feature and integrated shopping processes. The rest are, as Payvment put it, little more than photo gallery applications. It remains to be seen which approach is preferred by consumers. What is more of interest is to see if this so-called f-commerce phenomenon is a trend or a mere fad.
I can't fail to notice that Seattle-based Wishpot is missing from the list (disclaimer: I work there). Wishpot Social Syndication offers a Facebook Shop with integrated wish list and a Twitter shop solution too, which enables merchants and brands to use Twitter to promote their products in a smart, non invasive (and not 'salesy') way. http://www.wishpot.com/social-commerce
We power more than 100 Facebook Stores (such as http://www.facebook.com/Guess.eu?v=app_2456371452… and users are not asked to add/allow any application, which – to me as a user – is a big plus.
** NOTICE **
All merchants looking for Facebook shopping solutions should also be aware of the NEW Facebook Tab stucture Facebook is deploying in less than 2 weeks. Any store wider than 520 pixels (it appears most are) is going to have design and usability issues. More info found here: http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/399
Thankfully our people came across that article early on. Our CommerceSocial Suite of tools works perfectly with this new format: http://www.facebook.com/commercesocial
Best -
Ariel Wada
CEO, Pure Verticals
That is fantastic. Thanks for the link. A great idea for a book!