Thursday, June 16, 2011

Facebook Stores: Is this the future of business web sites?

It has been a while I am following social media marketing and browsing many e-Stores on Facebook, however it seems like Facebook is actively partnering with some key consumable product brands like Procter & Gamble (P&G). P&G recently announced launching 6 Facebook Stores which will bring a whole new business segment for Facebook. Well if this is a start, what to expect in near future. Amazon, JCPenney, Urban Outfitters, Old Navy and hundreds others have already opened theirs. Even the companies like Amazon, Ebay, Apple cannot live without the integration with Facebook anymore. The value proposition for companies like P&G and others is simply the voice of the customer i.e. sharing the feedback about the products with friends and family. At the same time the biggest challenge would be how the companies overcome the negative marketing that will in other words called bad reviews. Would those bad reviews will be filtered and if it does happen than it does not seems to me a transparent review system.




It is expected to be a billions of dollars business for technology innovators. These innovators developed innovative technology solutions that help companies develop their e-Stores on Facebook and them integrate with twitter and other social media sites like foursquare, livingSocial, Groupon, etc. Many of these e-store developers offer customized solutions as well as subscription based solutions starting from 9 dollars based on number of products.



Paul Marsden at socialcommercetoday.com has compiled a great list of 20 innovators ecommerce solutions developers and also a list of top 50 Facebook Stores.



The interesting trend here to see its that would the business need to manage and maintain different web sites when there core requirement of selling more is achievable through this new type of social e-commerce solutions. If you ask me I would go with one simple Facebook store web site and enhance it to optimize ROI. A domain will directly take you to the Facebook store where you will not only be able to buy products but also share experience across your network.



For more interesting posts like this, visit my blog at Web Technologist.

1 comment:

Kudge said...

It will be really interesting to see how this develops. I like the idea of never having to leave the Facebook interface to buy something..it makes it infinitely easier to impulse buy too. I actually saw numerous companies display their facebook e-commerce products at SXSW this year. I do think a clear market leader will emerge based on an elegant UI and business model. Keep us posted!