Facebook-commerce (F-commerce) expectations for growth seem to be out of sync with most e-sellers experiences, but while some see enormous growth opportunities others see a lot of effort for no clear return.
By Philip Rooke, CEO, Spreadshirt
The problem is largely one of communication within the medium; shops on Facebook only work as part of a social media strategy and most retailers are not sufficiently evolved in their social communication to make them work, thus F-commerce has become a contentious topic.
Consultants Booz & Company predict global social commerce sales will be 30 billion dollars in 2015, however, retail giants like the Gap, JC Penny and Nordstrom have closed their Facebook shops.
So is F-commerce already dead? Is the hype already over before it’s really started? On the contrary, a recent comScore report (The Power of Like Europe: How Social Marketing Works for Retail), illustrates the benefits Facebook can have for retail brands.
Facebook has a very big, loyal and active user-base. If you have customers it is very likely that your customers are there, which makes it an extremely important channel for most brands.
A study for the Hamilton Institute For Policy Research has also found that more than four in 10 Millennials (aged 20-33) in the U.S. and the U.K. said they wish there were more opportunities to shop within Facebook, versus 26% of Gen Xers (aged 34-46) and 16% of Boomers (47-66).
Nearly half agreed that they spend so much time on Facebook already, they might as well shop there too, compared with a quarter of Gen Xers and 14% of Boomers. Similarly, 48% said they wish the places where they shop had a page where customers could buy products/services directly on Facebook (27% of Gen Xers and 19% of Boomers said the same).
Europe is one of the largest markets for social networking, with an engaged user base accounting for a larger proportion of total minutes on social networking sites than any other region.
The time spent social networking in Europe continues to grow at a healthy pace of 17% year on year, and in the UK, France and Germany, 32% of a user’s time is spent on Facebook’s Homepage, which features the Newsfeed. And as people increasingly shop from the living room on a tablet, Facebook is likely to be a starting point.
However, Facebook functions according to the laws of Facebook users, not to those of traditional stores. It is all about the fast, action-oriented relevant sales. It’s a different type of communication and sell. Not a hard sell but gaining trust, comparison of needs and benefits in a more relaxed way. Recommendations on Facebook tend to be initiated by the buyer not the seller.
When F-commerce works in practice, it is due to the relevance of the product and communication to the user’s current interest. F-commerce is more than the pure sale: The point is to activate fans, include them and create a presence on Facebook through their news stream. Store offers and news stream have to be combined editorially.
Expectations are high for F-commerce, but e-sellers looking to sell via Facebook still have some catching-up to do. Just being there is not enough. You need a lot of staying power, good ideas and to develop the right language.
