For most of us Facebook is the place where we can socialise with old friends, share our ideas and thoughts or learn a thing or two. Now Facebook is slowly moving towards becoming an e-commerce platform. It is taking firm steps towards becoming a prominent business hub for retailers. Already businesses are using this social network for customer engagement and generating leads, some of them now have “buy” button that allows the user to shop within Facebook stores.
Facebook is keen on building stores within Facebook Pages, which can act as mini e-commerce sites that give businesses a chance to sell directly from their promotional business pages. The stores are still in the testing stage, but some of them already feature “buy” buttons that allows the customer to buy their desired product directly from the Facebook page storefront, rather than directed to the retailer’s website. These stores are part of Facebook’s big drive into e-commerce; it is also available on its widespread Messenger app.
Recent research by Mintel suggests that UK retail accounts for 11% of global Internet retail sales, and the UK has the highest e-commerce spend per person than any other country. In today’s ever more competitive market, social media can be an effective mean for retailers to engage their consumers and increase revenues. Retailers already know that social media is a powerful device for them to promote their product or service, but so far, companies didn’t have any direct way to drive revenues straight from their social activities. Now Facebook’s new initiative offers an opportunity for retailers to take advantage of the highly optimised Facebook app.
Several big brands already have thousands of followers on Facebook, but moving forward they will have to plan their Facebook activities accordingly to effectively convert those followers into active customers and brand promoters. They will also need to frequently evaluate their activities to make sure they are posting the right content to meet consumer’s growing needs. The pivotal factor in the ‘Buy’ button’s success will depend on retailers ability to engage consumer interest, convert social media users into active customers and eventually deliver further revenue for the retailer.
Facebook has future plans to eventually expand these stores beyond trade businesses and it could have different segments for public figures, sports teams and groups, as Facebook pages are such an important part of the consumer experience on Facebook.
BuzzFeed News, quoting a Facebook executive, reported that the company earlier allowed businesses, brands and organisations to build their own pages and share their stories with people, but now the company is building out shops within Facebook pages, providing businesses a chance to directly sell their products. Facebook currently does not take any percentage from product sales on its platform but, it may charge businesses for the feature in future.
If the experiment of bringing storefronts directly to Facebook Pages succeeds, it could change the entire e-commerce industry, it could be tough competition for other companies such as eBay and even Amazon. Though the performance of social commerce is still unproven, Facebook is determined on this program’s success.
If you wish to know more about this feature to incorporate on your Facebook business page, please feel free to give us a call on 01772 507118 or pop in your enquiry at http://www.webleap.co.uk/contact-us.html