Leading advertising trade magazine, Adage, has just published an article on social commerce – focusing on Facebook e-commerce. Forget e-commerce, f-commerce is here.
The article is archived below, but here are our top takeouts;
- The jury is still out on whether social media can drive sales – but one thing is clear: Sales are starting to happen in social media – specifically, with Facebook.
- Adding e-commerce functionality to Facebook will help marketers prove how closely social media can be tied to sales, and will also help Facebook’s primary revenue strategy, advertising, by enabling advertisers to monetize campaigns directly with e-commerce sales.
- P&G sold out of the 1,000 packs of diapers it was offering via Facebook within one hour. P&G used Ohio-based digital agency Resource Interactive‘s Off the Wall e-commerce technology, already used by retailer The Limited.
- Jones Apparel Group has been trialing Facebook stores for it’s Nine West and Rachel Roy brands. Nine West has launched a Flash-based Facebook sales app powered by Fluid software, offering exclusive products and 15% discounts to Facebookers. In February, the Facebook store for Rachel Roy store sold out of a limited quantity of jewelry within six hours.
- Avon’s trendier, Lauren Conrad-endorsed teen cosmetics brand, Mark is enabling peer-t0-peer network marketing sales on Facebook, powered by Alvenda, the f-commerce developers behind the 1-800-Flowers Facebook store.
- Facebook has partnered with online-payment platform PayPal to allow marketers to test e-commerce apps and turn 400-million-member social-networking site into a giant, global shopping mall.
- Third-party developer Payvment recently used PayPal’s API to build an app anyone can use to set up a retail store on a Facebook page.
- Whilst Facebook does not take a commission on e-commerce sales on Facebook pages, it will now collect 30% on purchases of virtual goods (the virtual goods market is estimated to be worth $5 billion) made with Facebook Credits, that can be purchased via PayPal.
- In addition to selling virtual goods, Facebook is now selling digital and real gifts in its Gift Shop; music from Apple’s “Lala” brand, flowers, candy, cakes and tickets from “Real Gifts” – that can be purchased with Facebook Credits