While shopping on Facebook is still uncommon, with only 1.5 million of the social network’s total 850 million members buying something via the site each month, the “overwhelming majority” of those who do are women.

Christian Taylor, the co-founder and chief executive of Silicon Valley start-up Payvment, the most popular commerce platform on Facebook – which powers 80 per cent of all shopping on the site, told The Telegraph that most shoppers tend to be stay-at-home mothers shopping for “cute things” for their children.

“The majority of people shopping on Facebook are women and most of them are stay-at-home mums. The most popular items bought on Facebook are by far baby clothes and little things like bows for children’s hair.

“I think Facebook has created an outlet for mothers to talk to other mums about what to buy for their children and share parenting tips. I imagine being a stay-at-home parent was an incredibly lonely job before social networks. The people shopping on Facebook are an incredibly similar crowd to those who play social games, such as Farmville.”

Taylor said that of the men who have shopped on the site, they tended to buy t-shirts and the most popular t-shirts were often cause-based shirts, such as tops raising money for cancer charities.

He also told The Telegraph that the number of people shopping on Facebook was growing by 20 per cent every month and there are currently more than three million items for sale on the world’s most popular social network.

Commerce on Facebook is still small, with most vendors tending to be small to medium-sized businesses – rather than the major brands – who usually have a fan page on the site instead.

Some have questioned the effectiveness of Facebook as a commerce platform, but can you dismiss an ad and marketing channel with 800+ million users?

Here are some tips for increasing the opportunities for commerce on Facebook.

Recently, Bloomberg published an article about several retailers, J.C. Penney, Nordstrom, Gap and Gamestop, who all closed their Facebook stores in 2011.

As a consultant implementing s-commerce (Social Commerce) solutions for my clients, I am writing to let you know that Facebook commerce (f-commerce) is alive and well and customers are making money selling products and services via Facebook. 

I can’t speak about the f-commerce implementations of the aforementioned companies, only from my own experience.

For one company, Grassroots Festival, we created a Facebook store to sell discounted tickets on the festival’s Facebook fan page.

The Facebook store generated a 4.1% clickthrough rate, resulted in a significant ROI and also cut-out the middle men in terms of ticket sales, who require substantial commission. 

We have also seen considerable success with smaller clients who do not currently sell their products online. The success of their s-commerce efforts has prompted them to commercialize their businesses online with e-commerce functionality on their websites.

For larger online retailers, unless they are offering specific incentives for their Facebook Fans to purchase from their Facebook stores, why would a consumer purchase something anywhere other than their website?

It is even more effective to find a specific niche or focus on clearance lines, rather than replicate your entire inventory in a Facebook store.

We have many hotel clients who have seen considerable volume in their Facebook stores specifically for gift vouchers, a growing category in the hospitality sector. Their websites are not usually geared up for anything other than booking rooms, and even then, they usually use a third party booking engine rather than managing their own functionality.

More at: http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/9428-why-facebook-commerce-is-alive-7?

 

As the number of Facebook commerce apps grows, choosing the right one to partner with is now an important decision to get right. One of the leading app developers is Ecwid. To illustrate how their platform can deliver real-world revenue gains, the company analysed 2,000 of its user accounts and found that an increase of 15% was enjoyed when using the app. Ecwid itself now has over 10 million ‘likes’ and has reported that total revenue via its Facebook stores jumped by 40% last year.

“Ecwid 10.2 makes it as easy as possible for website owners, of varying level levels of technical expertise, to start monetising their sites,” said Ruslan Fazlyev, founder and CEO of Ecwid. “Traditionally, users would be required to build and maintain a separate e-commerce site; pay for a hosted e-commerce solution; or add additional code to add individual ‘Buy Now’ buttons to their site, all of which can be a time consuming and costly exercise. Ecwid 10.2 not only makes it easy to set up an online store, but it also now offers store owners greater levels of customisation than ever before.”

Ecwid is the first and only store builder created entirely in AJAX. This means website owners can be confident that buyers are able to use the shopping cart regardless of device or browser type and without the need to install a Flash plug-in. Ecwid 10.2 is available in 40 languages and integrates seamlessly with major CMS and site builder platforms such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Parallels Web Presence Builder and now also any site created using Microsoft Office 365, providing them with e-commerce functionality.

More at: http://mashable.com/2012/01/29/pinterest-retail-infographic/

Facebook is investing further in its outreach programme to retailers to bring clarity to the term “social commerce” and promote social integration on their websites.  

Gavin Sathianathan, Facebook’s strategic partner manager, is leading the social network’s bid to promote social commerce in the UK and said that agreed definitions are a key building block in its evolution. “It’s really important we nail what we mean by ‘social commerce’,” he said. “At Facebook, we do not equate ‘social commerce’ with opening a store within the network.”

The comments follow a story last week in which retail brands including John Lewis and Reiss told new media age that selling items via social networks, such as a Facebook Store, was not on their 2012 agenda, favouring to hone their m-commerce strategies instead (nma.co.uk 19 January 2012).

Defining social commerce, or “f-commerce”, simply as a transactional store on Facebook is a restrictive way of thinking, according to Sathianathan. “From a defininiton perspactive, it’s important we’re all clear on that,” he saidd. “When I talk to retailers about this, I try to make it clear that it’s about how we can bring social media to bear on the purchase process, be that in a Facebook store or not.”

Most of the discussions taking place between Facebook and retailers centre on integrating Facebook functionality, such as a Like or Shar’ buttons, into their own websites, according to Sathianathan.

Top of Facebook’s priority list are supermarket and FMCG brands, while those that have experienced notable success in their f-commerce strategy stem from the fashion and ticketing vertials, according to the social network. 

“We talk a lot to FMCGs and grocers [whose goods or services are not necessarily social] and talk to them about the social aspects of their products,” said Sathianathan. “For instance, a can of baked beans may not be social but the meal you have them with could.”

Earlier this week, Unilever used its Facebook storefront to help debut its Lynx Attract for Her brand – the first time it has attempted to appeal to female audiences with the brand (nma.co.uk 23 January 2012).

The FMCG giant sold all 100 cans it was offering via the platform, retailing for £3.25 each, within two hours of launch in a campaign that met most of its initial performance metrics.

More at: http://www.nma.co.uk/news/facebook-urges-clearer-understanding-of-social-commerce/3033576.article

• 38% of men, but just 29% of women own a smartphone.
• Facebook is used by 56% of people – 60% of women, but just 52% of men.
• 14% of men shop using apps, but only 8% of women do.
• 27% of male shoppers use price comparison sites, while only 19% of women do.

Retailers are proving to be the gateways for brands, with 75% of people visiting retail websites, but less than half that number – 33% – going to brand websites.

Meanwhile, 63% of shoppers will buy through either a retail or brand website. For social media campaigns, this figure falls to 6%.

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Using social media, the main reasons for connecting with brands was found to be:

• 32% – finding out something new
• 23% – for brands to connect with them
• 24% – to be sold something by brands
• 12% – for brands or retailers to help them have fun

More than half (54%) of people thought brands or retailers used social media to sell more products, while 43% thought it was “because everyone else is”.