Social Commerce Today » Uncategorized

How to Sell $30,000 of Wine on Facebook

Paul Marsden — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:00:08 +0000

Lot of talk, not many numbers – sums up the state of f-commerce (Facebook e-commerce) right now. So it’s refreshing that VendorShop Social, a Facebook e-commerce app provider has released some top line sales figures for one of its clients; Australian online wine merchant, Winestore.com.au, sold $30K (AUS) of goods via its Facebook fan-store over the last two months.

Winestore uses exclusive fan offers to drive fan sales and lock in fan loyalty. One of their best offers was a free case of Stella exclusively for Facebook purchases – they sold 100 cases of wine within hours of launching the offer. Other exclusive offers for Fans included special mixed cases and free delivery.

Chris Small who heads up VendorShop Social, the Facebook store app provider that’s just received a $500K round of investment says, “Based on the experience of stores using the VendorShop platform, there are two key success factors for f-commerce – show your fans how much they are valued by giving your fans something they can’t get through other channels and remind fans regularly about your store and the products they can buy – you’d be surprised how often that is forgotten”.

Rules for the Revolution: Interview with Fashism Founder, Brooke Moreland

Paul Chaney — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:01:07 +0000

Social Commerce Today is starting a new series titled “Rules for the Revolution,” which consists of interviews with entrepreneurs that we refer to as social commerce “revolutionaries.” Without question, there is a revolution taking place at the intersection of social media and e-commerce and these individuals are leading the charge. Today’s inaugural installment is with Brooke Moreland, founder of Fashism.com.

“Don’t be afraid to fail. Fear gets in the way of innovation.” – Brooke Moreland

What comes to mind when you hear the term “fascism?” For Fashism.com founder Brooke Moreland, the term inspired a radical idea, that of bringing together a community of young fashion-conscious consumers who gather around the ideal that “we” is better than “me,” at least when it comes to making decisions about what to wear.

Sitting around a kitchen table one evening in 2008, Moreland and a few friends toyed with the idea of creating a site that addressed that need. Someone suggested the name Fashism – an amalgam of fascism and fashion – and it stuck.

Out of that informal meeting the die was struck for a website and mobile app that would allow members, using a smartphone, to take a picture of an outfit they were interested in purchasing, upload it to the site and get instant feedback from members of the community.

Moreland’s revolutionary idea was born of her our own shopping experience where she wanted to use mobile technology to garner the opinions of others about an outfit she was trying on, but couldn’t because no such app existed at the time. So, she decided to build one.

In explaining her concept, Moreland said, “We built an online community incorporating both mobile and web-based technology where people post photos of themselves and ask the community whether they should buy or wear an outfit, then allow the community to discuss its merits.”

Moreland’s vision for Fashism is two-fold: To give people confidence in their decisions regarding the way they look, and to be used as a discovery tool where community members can learn about new brands and fashions.

As might be expected, the user-base for Fashism consists primarily of teen-aged girls (25%) and young adult females, ages 18 -24 (40%). ”Younger people are more comfortable sharing personal information online. They are unafraid of sharing images of themselves, or putting their real selves out there,” said Moreland.

When asked about the business model around Fashism, Moreland said, “We focused on utility first, with a view toward providing benefit to our users, believing that the money would come later. We didn’t perceive it to be a problem as our members come to the site with a purchase intent.”

Fashism does make money, however, via three channels: Affiliate sales, advertising and sponsored promotions with fashion brands. As one example, Moreland cited a prom season promotion with Lord & Taylor. “Signs were posted in prom shop dressing rooms encouraging girls to post their photos to Fashism and claim their prom dress. Doing so gave them exclusive rights to the dress on our website,” she stated. “If someone liked the dress, it would be pushed to the Lord & Taylor site where buyers could see dresses with similar attributes.”

So successful has Fashim’s community-driven concept been that the company is considering moving into other verticals, as well as incorporating an e-commerce layer itself. “We have a highly engaged audience consisting of users who want to buy stuff,” Moreland said.

When asked about mistakes made by the company during its evolution, Moreland said, “One early mistake we made was to do a big redesign where we changed a lot of things all at once. That caused confusion among members of our community.” Having learned her lesson, she added, “We try to make as few changes as possible, and those only incrementally. If our users don’t like it, we revert back to the previous version.”

Rule for the Revolution

Moreland’s ‘rule for the revolution’ to other budding social commerce entrepreneurs: “Don’t be afraid to fail. Fear gets in the way of innovation. Put yourself out there and be willing to take risks. Social commerce, especially where fashion brands are concerned, is still unchartered territory.”

Top Ten Social Commerce Infographics for 2011

Paul Chaney — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:01:38 +0000

Rounding out our list of top 10′s for the year is this post that contains the most viewed social commerce infographics for 2011 based on page views. We like using infographics and have scoured the web to find those that furnish the best portrayal of the social commerce landscape. Truly, a picture is worth a 1,000 words!

#1. A Year in Social Commerce

#2. Say Hello to the F-Commerce Ecosphere

#3. Facebook Shares Worth $2.10 Incremental Sales, Convert at 10.9%

#4. All You Ever Wanted to Know About Group-Buy in 10 Infographics

#5. Who is the “Social Customer?”

#6. F-commerce: A First Infographic

#7. Why f-commerce? 1 in 11 Humans are There

#8. The Pros & Cons of Group-Buy

#9. Selling into the Sharing Economy: The Next Big Trend in Social Commerce? (3 infographics)

#10. Social Commerce & the Smart SoLoMo Consumer (2 infographics)

Speed Summary & Download | 360i Report on Facebook Commerce [Report]

Paul Marsden — Sat, 07 May 2011 05:00:52 +0000

Here’s quick 8-point speed summary of the latest report on f-commerce, entitled Facebook Commerce just out from digital agency 360i. The full report can be viewed and downloaded below. It’s a nice introduction to f-commerce – and makes some good points.

We especially like the idea that f-commerce should be about “value exchange” – i.e. know what value you want (sales, word of mouth referrals, advocacy, buzz, and new customers), and what value you will offer customers (exclusive deals, early access to a product, rewards for sharing deals with friends, or bonus content that doesn’t normally come with a product). No value exchange, no f-commerce. And no, convenience is not value – the Web is just a click away.

F-commerce, or Facebook Commerce, is a subset of social commerce, selling with and through social networks and social media – and comes in two flavours
- Selling directly through Facebook with e-commerce applications: Delta, Discovery Channel, Disney (Tickets Together), Home Depot, JCPenney, Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, Walmart, Sears, Warner Bros. films
- Using social plugins to offer Facebook functionality on e-commerce sites (note also the recent trend of integrating Facebook functionality into bricks and mortar stores): GoJane, JanSport, Levi’s (Friends Store)
Facebook commerce operates on two levels. First, it appeals to your core audience, those who already “like” you or visit your site. If such a program is successful, then your existing customers will spread the word about their favorite products and recent purchases to their friends on Facebook, generating awareness and possible referrals from their friends who may not be your customers already.
Facebook commerce is especially well suited to event commerce – making products available for limited times or in limited quantities can be Facebook commerce, since customers will want to tell their friends – once they’ve snapped up the deal themselves.
Think value exchange – you want sales, word of mouth referrals, advocacy, buzz, and new customers, but what do customers want? Offer exclusive deals, early access to a product, rewards for sharing deals with friends, or bonus content that doesn’t normally come with a product.
Remember that whilst promising, Facebook Commerce market is small and experimental, just a part of the fledgling social commerce market: global social commerce revenues are predicted to grow from $5 billion in 2011 to $30 billion in 2015 (Booz & Co). IDC Consulting analyst Mike Fauscette predicts, “In three to five years, 10% to 15% of total consumer spending in developed countries may go through sites such as Facebook.”
Advantages of Facebook Commerce
- Facebook Commerce can drive:
  - Customer Acquisition
  - Customer Loyalty
  - Customer Advocacy
- Facebook Commerce can offer
  - Instant Personalisation
  - Speed and Timeliness
  - Targeting
  - Scale
  - Brand Building
6 steps for creating a successful Facebook commerce program
1. Define your objectives up front. Acquiring new customers? Launching a new product? Converting your customers into advocates?
2. The new KISS: keep it social, stupid. Avoid putting a massive product catalog on Facebook without any social functionality.
3. Check with legal. the lawyers. To avoid potential issues like channel conflicts
4. Consider scaling back. Offering fewer products for limited times, possibly with preferred pricing, can help motivate consumers to make an impulse buy. Consumers can also be your best curators. Give them a say in what you sell
5. Try before you buy. Experience Facebook commerce yourself by buying from other brands already selling on Facebook
6. Set up the promotional strategy. Advertise and PR your store, the “if you build it, they will come” approach has never worked in social media, and it won’t work for Facebook Commerce
The Future of Facebook Commerce
- A narrowing of what gets sold on Facebook
  - Remarkable (newsworthy, exciting, inspiring) goods and deals
  - High involvement goods with personal significance for which people typically seek peer advice
- Integration of Facebook Mobile (to extend relevance and reach) and Facebook Credits (to ease friction)

360i POV on Facebook Commerce

The Fonz on Social Skis? Walmart’s $300m+ social commerce investment

Paul Marsden — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:00:33 +0000

So Walmart, the world’s largest retailer has decided to vote for social commerce with its wallet. $300m for a social media startup to combine social media, shopping and mobile. The startup in question, Kosmix (Wiki entry), is right now in the business of ‘taming social media overload’ by tracking, filtering and re-publishing quality social media content (RightHealth, TweetBeat), and the team Behind Kosmix has good e-commerce credentials (Amazon (Marketplace), Ebay, and Junglee (a shopping database/search engine purchased by Amazon in 1998)).

[blockquote]“We are expanding our capabilities in today’s rapidly growing social commerce environment. Social networking and mobile applications are increasingly becoming a part of our customers’ day-to-day lives globally, influencing how they think about shopping, both online and in retail stores. We are excited to have the Kosmix team join us to accelerate the development of our social and mobile commerce offerings.” Eduardo Castro-Wright, Walmart vice chairman[/blockquote]

Little detail as to how Kosmix – now @WalMartLabs – will be recombining the enigmatic social-shopping-mobile trinity to deliver value for Walmart and its customers. There’s a lot of talk about a ‘Social Genome’ platform that builds profiles of users, topics, products, places, and events to take “search, personalisation, and recommendations to the next level”, but nothing concrete. At the very least, @WalMartLabs technology should help Walmart better understand, and therefore cater to, the tastes and preferences of its customers. But Kosmix co-founder Anand Rajaraman hints at something bigger:

[blockquote]“We are at an inflection point in the development of e-commerce… The first generation of e-commerce was about bringing the store to the Web. The next generation will be about building integrated experiences that leverage the store, the Web and mobile, with social identity being the glue that binds the experience.”[/blockquote]

Walmart is not known as a digital pioneer, and as others have noted, the behemoth has struggled with digital in the past, so the investment in social commerce is either a sign that social commerce has really gone mainstream – or as cynics will claim, that Walmart and/or social commerce has jumped the shark.

If Walmart isn’t to become the Fonz on social skis, then we think that whatever @WalMartLabs does, it should build on it’s core money-saving value proposition.

The Walmart brand is all about saving money – and it follows that any deployment of social commerce should be to build this brand proposition – anything else could undermine the brand and become a costly diversion for Walmart. Which is why, pima facie, it might seem odd that Walmart gobbled up Kosmix, rather than followed in Amazon’s $175m footsteps and take a bite out of a group-buy platform. Of course, if Walmart’s social commerce push will involve helping consumers use social media to save money – then it all makes sense.

The Walmart deal aside, we believe smart social commerce in general should be about building your brand – create choice-shaping associations in the mind of the audience – by delivering value on what you stand for – or what you want to stand for – in the mind of your audience. So start with what you stand for and work back. If you don’t take a brand-led approach, you run the risk of deploying social for social’s sake in a costly diversion that could get in the way of a sale.

If this makes sense, and there’s no shark jumping going on, expect Walmart’s crowdsaver experiment to get a new lease of life, and don’t be surprised if check-in deals and group-buy deals figure prominently in Walmart’s digital future.