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Archive for the ‘Facebook Commerce’ Category

SortPrice’s Facebook Store Application Gets Boost with New Flash Sale Feature

Posted in Ecommerce, Facebook Commerce, General News / Technology, Online Shopping, Retail, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Flash Sale for Facebook StoresAlready one of the leading F-commerce solutions in the industry, comparison search engine SortPrice.com announced this week that they’ve added another cool feature to their Facebook Store Application that allows merchants to run Flash Sales right on their fan pages.

The company says the new component is just the latest in a long line of upgrades to its Facebook retail application, which is currently being used by more than 1,500 retailers across the nation.

According to SortPrice, the Flash Sale feature is, in part, an attempt to bridge two big recent F-commerce trends: the rise in popularity of daily deal sites like Groupon and the reality that most Facebook users tend to “Like” retail brands in the hopes of getting a special deal as a result.

“We’re really excited to offer this feature, since Flash Sales and the daily deal models have proven to be very effective and popular tools for retailers,” said Doron Simovitch, the company’s co-founder and CEO.  “Shoppers love such deals for their exclusivity and merchants can really capitalize on that potential by quickly and easily incorporating flash sales into their overall social shopping offerings.”

SortPrice merchants who are operating Facebook stores through the company can run one Flash Sale per day (for now) on their Facebook fan pages, listing a specific product for a discounted price for a limited time, with the option to include a promo code or coupon if they wish.  Simovitch says the Flash Sales are ideal if a merchant has a high volume of merchandise they need to move quickly or they just want to reward their Facebook fans for their loyalty.

“It’s another way to engage your Facebook fans and provide them with an incentive, which is ultimately the name of the game when it comes to social shopping,” he said.

One of the major benefits of the component is the ease in which a Flash Sale can be set up—SortPrice says retailers can have one up and running in less than five minutes by picking an item from their catalog and then setting the special price and time frame for the sale right in the management console that SortPrice provides to all of its retailers.

The console is also where SortPrice retailers can control the look and feel of their Facebook stores, enable or disable particular components, enact side-by-side product comparison features and more.

Keeping things consistent throughout its broader application, SortPrice has also included all of the usual social shopping features in the new Flash Sale offering.  Users can “Like” or comment on Flash Sales and share them with their Facebook friends as well.

We’ve followed a lot of SortPrice’s F-commerce work in the past few years.  They were, after all, one of the first companies to even offer retailers a storefront application back in 2008 and since then, their client list is an impressive 1,500-plus national retailers.  An earlier SortPrice press release said those merchants posted more than $3.78 billion worth of merchandise on their Facebook stores in 2010 and with the Flash Sale component, we’re guessing the company will pick up quite a few more clients in the coming months.

As always, we welcome your thoughts and comments!

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Facebook Poised to Assume Top Spot in Web Advertising

Posted in Facebook Commerce, General News / Technology, tagged , , , , , on June 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Don’t look now, but Facebook’s takeover of the world continues!

According to a new report by research firm eMarketer, the social networking giant’s web advertising revenue is growing at such a clip that it will overtake both Google and Yahoo this year and become No. 1 in online display ads.

eMarketer’s data projects that Facebook will generate $2.2 billion in U.S. advertising revenue in 2011, which equates to roughly 17.7 percent of all display ad revenue across the industry.

Just last year, Facebook only accounted for a little more than 12 percent of total online advertising revenue.  Such profound year-over-year growth shows that more and more businesses of every size are adopting Facebook’s package of banner ads, web page sponsorships and video ads to reach consumers.

“Facebook’s supreme popularity—both in terms of numbers of people and amount of time they spend there—creates a plethora of display ad impressions, mainly for its unique form of banners,” said eMarketer’s David Hallerman.  “And that popularity is also boosting what advertisers will pay for its display ads.”

The data paints a picture of a rapidly changing landscape in online advertising, one in which Facebook is gobbling up more of the pie while Google and Yahoo are both failing to keep up.

Google appears to be in better shape than Yahoo, at least.  eMarketer forecasts that Google’s 2011 U.S. advertising revenue will total $1.15 billion, an increase of more than 34 percent from 2010 and a figure that gives the company 9.3 percent of all online advertising revenue.  Yahoo, meanwhile, despite an increase in overall advertising revenue this year, will see its share of total revenue fall from 14.4 percent to 13.1 percent.

That trend is expected to continue into next year as well. In 2012, eMarketer estimates that Facebook will handily increase its dominance in the U.S. display market, relegating Google and Yahoo to fighting for the second spot.  Facebook is expected to garner 19.4 percent of the market in 2012, while Google and Yahoo will be in a near-deadlock at 12.3 and 12.5 percent respectively.

Leave us your thoughts and comments!

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Most Luxury Brands Fail to Cash In on Facebook Potential

Posted in Ecommerce, Facebook Commerce, tagged , , , , on June 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

While there are some notable exceptions, new research from think tank L2 reveals that a majority of luxury brands are failing to capitalize on the potential of Facebook when it comes to engaging and motivating present and potential customers.

L2 reviewed the Facebook activity of 100 different “prestige” specialists for the report and found that more than half of those companies have only an “average” Facebook presence or worse.  L2 cited BMW, Clinique and Audi as the luxury brands with the strongest, and most effective, presence on the social networking site.

“Every few decades, the prestige industry experiences a seminal moment where a breakthrough channel, marketing innovation or product reconfigures the landscape,” says L2’s founder, Scott Galloway.  “Prestige marketers are making significant investments in Facebook growth, but many still fail to authentically engage with their fans.”

In scoring each company’s Facebook efforts, L2 employed four different criteria.  Size and velocity indicators, such as the number and growth rate of Facebook Likes, comprised 35 percent of the index score, while another 25 percent was based on programming traits including the quality of communications content, ecommerce integration and creativity.  Engagement factors totaling the number of fan posts and other contributions to a fan page made up 25 percent of the index score and the remaining 15 percent was based on the overall coordination across the entire digital space.

BMW, which boasts nearly 5.7 million Facebook fans, topped the rankings with a score of 175 points.  L2 credited the carmaker’s multi-lingual outreach to consumers and its 2Originals tab that solicits videos, photos and clips from fans as major factors contributing to its overall #1 position.

Finishing second was Clinique, and it was the cosmetic giant’s Next Best Thing application in particular that helped the company compile a score of 165.   Audi (156 points) and Lexus (154) finished third and fourth respectively, while the beauty group Bare Escentuals’ score of 149 was good enough for #5 on the list.

Overall, only 12 prestige specialists achieved a ‘genius’ ranking for their Facebook presence and another 26 earned a ‘gifted’ designation.  The remainder of the companies fell into the ‘average’, ‘challenged’ and ‘feeble’ categories.

One major trend to emerge from the data was the reality that a big following on Facebook doesn’t automatically translate into consumer interaction. Bare Escentuals, for example, compiled its top five ranking with only 325,000 or so Facebook followers, while larger names such as Burberry and Gucci were well behind despite having more than 3 million fans each. The 700 fan posts that Bare Escentuals gets each week was the highest of any brand in the study.

Other highlights from the study:

–Less than half of the luxury brands researched (48 percent) have a permanent link to Facebook on their own website, while half link to YouTube and 43 percent link to Twitter;

–Companies that allow/encourage comments to be posted to their Facebook walls scored better (an average of 107) than those that employ a more closed approach (82 score, on average);

–In evaluating more than 800 different wall posts, L2 determined that material addressing products yielded the highest levels of interaction. Promoting deals and/or contests on Facebook walls tend to solicit a more limited response.

–Watch/jewelry, fashion and champagne/spirits brands delivered the highest number of consumer engagements, followed by automotive and beauty.

So why are luxury brands lagging behind everyone else on Facebook?  L2 didn’t say, really, but we’d be interested to hear your guess on the subject.  Leave us a comment below!

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SortPrice Rolls Out Updated Version of Facebook Store Application

Posted in Ecommerce, Facebook Commerce, General News / Technology, Online Shopping, Retail, tagged , , , , , , , on June 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

While other companies continue to flood the market and target retailers with new e-commerce solutions for Facebook, one of the industry’s original ‘F-commerce’ providers is already well into phase two of its retail offering for the social networking site.

Comparison search engine SortPrice.com yesterday announced that it has unveiled Version 2.0 of its Facebook Store Application .  The SortPrice app, which was one of the first retailer tools for Facebook when it was originally rolled out in late 2008, is already used by more than 1,500 merchants nationwide.

The updated version of the application takes the original concept of selling on Facebook and enhances the experience by providing retailers with a host of customization options and other features designed to spur interaction among, and feedback from, their Facebook fans.

“At this point, selling on Facebook has evolved from an option to a must for any retailer that’s serious about the success of their business,” said Asaf Klibansky, SortPrice.com co-founder and CTO.  “Version 2.0 reflects that shift in priorities and gives a retailer even more ways to build a comprehensive, interactive Facebook store that will not just increase traffic and interaction but deliver actual sales as well.”

SortPrice says it timed the release of the new version in part to coincide with Facebook’s recent coding shift to IFrames.  That change, among other things, helps retailers better track the use of Like buttons both on their Facebook fan pages and own websites.

Version 2.0 also includes a side-by-side product comparison feature that retailers can use to solicit consumer feedback on which item they prefer and why, as well as a dedicated section for spotlighting popular products that can be used during special sales or promotions.

Among the customization options in the new version are features that give merchants the ability to add customized banners, color schemes and splash pages to their Facebook stores, tailor the layout of the storefront itself either by moving or enabling/disabling components, customize product categories to match those on their own website and include personalized footers at the bottom of their stores in the form of links, banners, contact information or plain text.

SortPrice’s application is still a free add-on for any merchant that lists their products on the company’s product search engine.  SortPrice techs build each Facebook store in a matter of days and then turn it over to the retailer, who can take advantage of all of the application’s tools and resources through a dedicated management console.

SortPrice expects to add a few more features to the application in the coming months but in its nearly three years of existence, it has already assumed a place on the leading edge of the e-commerce/social media integration movement: the company says its retail partners posted nearly $3.78 billion worth of merchandise on their SortPrice-built Facebook stores in 2010.

Leave us your thoughts and comments below!

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Analysis: What Does Forrester Research Have Against F-commerce?

Posted in Facebook Commerce, General News / Technology, Online Shopping, Retail, tagged , , , , , , on May 2, 2011 | 2 Comments »

It is officially time to start questioning whether the folks over at the normally reliable firm Forrester Research have it out for the social shopping movement.

For the second time in less than a month, a report tied to Forrester has emerged challenging the notion that incorporating social media as part of a broader retail strategy is a worthwhile endeavor.   Our regular readers already know about the first report, in which Forrester’s Sucharita Mulpuru argued emphatically that F-commerce will never flourish as many have predicted.  Mulpuru’s report also downplayed the effectiveness of social media features such as the Facebook Like button as a retail tool as well.

Now, Forrester and GSI Commerce have teamed up for a new study that essentially says the same thing—retailers are wasting both time and money on their social media efforts because social media has virtually no influence on online purchasing behavior.

The GSI/Forrester report used data collected between November 12 and December 20 of last year to determine that less than 2 percent of all online orders during that time were the result of shoppers using a social network.  That success rate jumped modestly, to between 5 and 7 percent, for announcements of short-term deals and promotions on social networking sites.

And as was the case with Mulpuru’s study, this new report also says that retailers would be better off focusing instead on traditional marketing techniques such as paid search and email instead.

“It’s been a mystery to me why the media is excited about social media,” Fiona Dias, GSI’s executive vice president of strategy and marketing, told Mashable.  “From a retail and commerce perspective, it seems to have no effect.”

We’ll get to Fiona Dias in a moment but first let’s focus on Forrester because it looks like they’re involved in another piece of shoddy research.

Mulpuru’s report relied on the testimony of about two dozen retailers, marketers and technology vendors to support her claim that F-commerce was a waste of time.  That’s 24 participants in a movement that now boasts, at minimum, a few thousand companies and brands.  As we pointed out at the time, it was baffling, not to mention irresponsible, to take such a small sampling and claim that it is representative of an entire trend.

But lo and behold, Forrester and GSI did something similar this time around.  Rather than use an expansive period of time to get a truly accurate look at how social media was involved in online sales, they instead relied only on a six-week period during the holiday shopping season.  It would be somewhat understandable if ‘social media conversions’ were a bit low at that time of year, if for no other reason than many shoppers already have established holiday shopping practices in place and are inundated with so many other options that they could easily forgo social shopping, a practice that many are still learning how to best use.

So just to summarize, in the course of a month Forrester has definitively written off the potential for F-commerce based only on the testimony of two dozen companies in one case and a small window of time in the other.

While Forrester’s questionable research tactics certainly jump out when you look at both reports, the other red flag in our opinion is that in each report, retailers are advised to forgo social media work and instead rely on paid search and email marketing instead.

Now we’re not here to say that those two marketing vehicles don’t have their merits or should be ignored by retailers.  But how do we wrap our head around GSI’s assertion that social media marketing is a waste of time when all we’ve seen for the past year or so is MORE merchants expanding to social networking sites and diversifying what they do on those sites?  Dias, in her discussion with Mashable, went as far as to say that she advises her clients directly to avoid social media work altogether.

Could it be that email marketing and paid search are so heavily emphasized by GSI Commerce in particular because  that’s their bread and butter?  Take one look at the Marketing Services section of the GSI website and you’ll see both prominently listed as leading GSI services for retailers.  There is no social networking service listed at all.

Now, we don’t mean to suggest there’s some smoking gun or grand conspiracy afoot here.  All we’re saying is that we should all consider the source of these recent reports that seem to fly in the face of everything else we’ve seen with regard to F-commerce and social shopping in general.  It’s natural to assume that traditional tools like paid search and email marketing would see a decrease in use and popularity when something new and exciting (in this case, social shopping) bursts onto the scene.  But it would appear, at least in this case, that those decreases have become substantial enough that parties such as Forrester and GSI feel the need to unleash information that doesn’t quite jive with what we’ve all come to know—that social shopping IS indeed a relevant e-commerce movement that isn’t going away anytime soon.

As always, we welcome your feedback on this issue so leave us a comment!

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Victoria’s Secret Leads E-commerce Industry in Facebook Likes

Posted in Ecommerce, Facebook Commerce, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Merchants who are new to selling on Facebook may want to head on over to the Victoria’s Secret fan page on the social networking site and take some notes on how to engage fans and customers.

The lingerie retailer and its Pink line for younger women were the two most “Liked” brands on Facebook during the month of March, garnering 12.1 million and 8.4 million Likes respectively in the latest Facebook Commerce Index report from Channel Advisor.

Channel Advisor, which works with retailers to get them listed on major online marketplaces and comparison shopping sites, tracks the total number of Likes accumulated by more than 500 brands every month for its index.  To our knowledge, it’s the only gauge of how retailers are performing when it comes to engaging their friends and fans on Facebook.

“Victoria’s Secret is a popular brand that does a lot with Facebook at all its different touch points—catalog, online and in store,” says Scot Wingo, ChannelAdvisor’s CEO.  “They’re clearly focused on it.”

The full top ten e-commerce brands for March, along with their total number of Likes and the month-over-month percentage increase is as follows:

1. Victoria’s Secret: 12.1 million, 4%
2. Victoria’s Secret Pink brand: 8.4 million, 5%
3. Adidas Originals: 8.2 million, 15%
4. Lacoste: 5.2 million, 11%
5. Burberry: 5.1 million, 20%
6. WWE: 4.9 million, 9%
7. Hollister Co.: 4.6 million, 6%
8. Wal-Mart: 4.5 million, 23%
9. Forever 21: 4.2 million, 3%
10. Abercrombie & Fitch: 4.1 million, 7%

Though it didn’t crack the top ten, Build-a-Bear Workshop enjoyed the highest percentage of growth of Facebook followers for the month (among all retailers with at least 100k Likes), increasing a whopping 146 percent from 341,536 to nearly 841,000 followers thanks to a steady stream of Facebook-only promotions and special offers in March.

While the true value of a Facebook Like is still up for debate, what is obvious is that Likes do provide a gauge of just how effectively a company is communicating with its Facebook followers.  Companies and brands that engage their fans regularly are the ones that are getting the most out of their F-commerce offerings while those that aren’t tend to be at a competitive disadvantage.

Thoughts?  Leave us a comment below!

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Forrester Research Analyst Disputes F-commerce Potential

Posted in Ecommerce, Facebook Commerce, Online Shopping, tagged , , , , on April 7, 2011 | 4 Comments »

We’re not ones to stifle opposing views or even reject a healthy debate on some of the topics we cover here on Junkie, but sometimes we come across information from so called industry “experts” that is simply mind-boggling and necessitates a response.

Case in point:  Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru has authored a report due out today that essentially flies in the face of everything we’ve seen in the past 18-24 months, predicting that e-commerce will actually NOT flourish on Facebook, now or in the future.

The new report, titled “Will Facebook Ever Drive eCommerce,” basically asserts that Facebook’s bang is simply not worth a retailer’s bucks.  Mulpuru and her team interviewed about two dozen technology vendors, marketers and retailers who resoundingly stated that they have received little to no benefit from expanding to Facebook and other social networking sites.

Social network presences, she found, are less effective in terms of customer acquisition and retention, than both e-mail and paid search.  The study cites average Facebook metrics of a 1 percent click-through rate and 2 percent conversion rate, compared to email marketing’s 11 percent click-through rate and 4 percent average conversion.

The report also bashes the practice of using Facebook Likes as a promotional tool, arguing that they’re ineffective simply because most people just Like company pages on Facebook in order to qualify for discounts.

Mulpuru says that some companies (such as digital goods providers) could be helped by expanding to Facebook, but in summing up her overall position, she told the Wall Street Journal:  “You go to Facebook to find other people, not to find a product.”

Ok, so let’s analyze this a little bit further because frankly, Mulpuru’s entire premise seems way off to us even if we put aside our biased love for all things F-commerce.

First of all, basing a theory such as this on the ‘testimony’ of a mere two dozen participants in the social networking/ecommerce/marketing game raises a huge red flag.  Who these companies are, how long they’ve been involved in F-commerce and the methods they’ve used to try to gain success on Facebook are all relevant questions that are not adequately addressed by the report.   One could just as easily find another 20 or so companies (or more) that ARE having success with F-commerce and use them as an effective counter-argument.  Plus, while it’s impossible to say for sure the total number of retailers involved in F-commerce, we can definitely assume that there’s at least a few thousand out there.  Thus, the small sampling pool used in the report can hardly be considered authoritative, or accurate.

Furthermore, the assertion that Facebook Likes aren’t an effective tool for retailers simply because users generally will only take advantage of them in order to receive a discount or special offer doesn’t make much sense to us either.  After all, putting special offers in front of Facebook fans has proven to be an effective marketing tool for many merchants because of their exclusive nature—Facebook users feel special because they are actually getting something out of being a fan of a particular brand.  And sure, some of those users might grab of a discount and never use that merchant ever again.   But isn’t it safe to assume that even more would stick around and stay engaged with that merchant knowing full well that doing so could be to their benefit again down the line?

Finally, let’s talk about Mulpuru’s assertion that Facebook is a resource for finding other people, not products.

On the surface, sure that’s true. Hell, that’s how Facebook started in the first place.  But the statement also ignores how much Facebook has evolved over the years into much more than a resource for people to connect with each other. Games and other such applications have gradually sprouted up on Facebook over the years, attracting the interest of plenty of users.   Facebook’s Event feature has also grown in popularity and the advent of brand Fan Pages has witnessed thousands of companies building such pages as a way to connect with more people.

The growth of shopping on Facebook has also been gradual, but the momentum definitely points toward F-commerce  continuing to grow.  It’s safe to say that there are significantly more retailers selling on Facebook now than there was just 12 months ago, and those merchants are increasingly finding new ways to tap into the Facebook audience.

Now, if retailers truly believe that there’s no point to selling on Facebook, then why are so many of them on there? And why does it seem like more F-commerce providers are sprouting up by the week to build shopping applications on the site for those very merchants?  The answer is simple: the more than 500 million registered users on Facebook represent an audience that is simply too promising to ignore for any business sector.

Is e-commerce on Facebook an exact science?  No.  Is it perfect?  No.  It’s a relatively new phenomenon, one that is still in its infancy and should be expected to keep evolving in the future.  But it’s undeniable that Facebook’s users are gradually discovering that there are products and fun shopping options on the site and those users are increasingly taking advantage of them.  It’s also undeniable that more and more retailers are making F-commerce a regular component over their overall e-commerce strategy.

We regularly reference data from Forrester Research here on Junkie and have always put a lot of stock in that data and the company on the whole.  But we can’t help but scrutinize this latest report from Mulpuru and her team and wonder where exactly they’ve come up with the notion that selling on Facebook is a waste of time when so much data out there speaks to the contrary.

Thoughts?  This is a post we’re really going to want to hear from you guys on so leave a comment!

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Home Depot Starts Facebook Promotion for Spring

Posted in Ecommerce, Facebook Commerce, Online Shopping, tagged , , , , , on March 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Today’s officially the first day of spring, which means a new season is upon us after a long and frosty winter in many places.  It also means it’s time to starting thinking spring promotions for many of your e-tailers and merchants out there, particularly if you’ve recently expanded to Facebook and you’re looking to start capitalizing on the move.

Home Depot is already rolling one a spring promotion of its own and it’s a great example of how you can use your Facebook/social networking presence to garner more customers and raise your brand awareness at a very important time.

The home improvement giant will be offering shoppers who give them a Like on their Facebook page exclusive offers every Friday through May 27th as part of the Spring Black Friday Event.  Deals are expected to be anywhere between 50 and 75 percent off regular prices on an assortment of gardening, lawn care and patio items.

“Spring is our Christmas,” says Craig Menear, Home Depot’s executive vice president for merchandising.  “As consumers continuously look for ways to affordably improve the appearance of their homes, we want to give them the best value possible to meet all of their indoor and outdoor needs.”

Prices should vary substantially from those listed on HomeDepot.com and in the chain’s store locations, thus adding to the exclusivity of the offerings for Facebook users.  Such a price differential, however, is rare for Home Depot:  typically the company’s web site checks where a shopper is located and then provides prices at stores in that immediate area to ensure a consistent pricing across all of its channels.

Eschewing that pricing strategy, however, definitely shows how important Home Depot views its’ Facebook outreach and audience.

Shoppers will be able to take advantage of the special deals and if interested, buy the products, without ever leaving Facebook itself.  A ‘Buy Now’ button will appear on every post that is announcing a special deal, directing consumers to a more detailed product description and a check-out option.

As we said, Home Depot is providing a great example of how to take your Facebook presence and maximize it.  They’re engaging their Facebook fans and motivating them to participate with the promise of exclusivity, which is an important component of any social networking marketing strategy.  And since they’re using Facebook Likes, the company will also be able to quantify how the promotion is doing as well.  Retailers who want to follow suit would be well advised to use the Spring Black Friday Event as a template of sorts when starting up their own Facebook promotions.

As always, we welcome your thoughts and comments below!

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Merchant Tips: What’s Better, a Tweet or a Facebook Like?

Posted in Facebook Commerce, Merchant Tips, tagged , , , , , on March 18, 2011 | 2 Comments »

One of the big things to look for in the immediate future as social commerce and social networking integration continue to evolve is which specific social media channels start to separate themselves from the rest as preferred resources by businesses.

In the e-commerce industry, as with most others, Facebook and Twitter have risen to the top of the social media priority list.  And in fact, it could be argued that both resources have actually been the driving forces behind businesses of every type making social media a bigger part of their broader marketing, promotional and customer service offerings.  While other sites preceded the two and even more that have arrived since, none have enjoyed the success of Facebook and Twitter.

So if we’re left to assume that these two are gold standard for social media now and in the near future, an obvious question arises: which one is more effective for businesses?

Well one event marketing company, Eventbrite, has released some internal data that suggests a Facebook “Like” carries a lot more weight, and is ultimately more profitable, than a Tweet.

Eventbrite’s research was unveiled earlier this week and details how each social media site contributed to the success of individual events the company prepared.   The data shows that the average Facebook like produced an additional $1.34 in profit, while a Tweet only added about $.80.

While obviously the effects of using both Twitter and Facebook will vary from industry to industry, the data does indeed have relevance for e-commerce companies, says Eventbrite’s Tamara Mendelsohn:

“…the findings apply broadly to all e-commerce businesses, because the foundations of e-commerce are shifting as the social graph becomes a meaningful influence in driving transactions,” says the company’s marketing director.

Eventbrite’s experiences are the result solely of its own marketing efforts, so we’d guard against reading too much into them.   You can check out more details of their research right here on their company blog.

However, it did get us thinking that this could prove to be a great discussion point for e-tailers and online marketers so we’re going to especially encourage you to comment on this post.  Leave us a comment with your thoughts or opinions and any relevant experience you may have in determining whether Facebook or Twitter is more effective.

Let’s get a good discussion going here, don’t be shy!

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Facebook Becomes the Latest Daily Deal Player

Posted in Ecommerce, Facebook Commerce, Online Shopping, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

You almost have to feel a bit sorry for the folks over at Groupon.  We certainly wouldn’t blame them for feeling like there’s a bulls-eye on their collective backs.

After all, since November of last year (a mere 6 months ago), a number of tech heavy hitters like Yahoo, eBay, and Bing have all pledged to get into the daily deal business and to take a slice of the pie from Groupon.  And that’s not even counting Google’s own aggressive daily deal aspirations, which have accelerated quickly since Groupon turned down a hefty purchase offer from Google during that time as well.

Well, now you can add another big name to that list of companies:  Facebook.

Continuing its gradual expansion into all things e-commerce, Facebook has announced that it will be expanding its current Deals program to start offering consumers exclusive online deals.  Shoppers will be able to buy daily-deal vouchers on Facebook itself and share them with their Facebook friends under the new program.

Facebook will use its own in-house sales team to solicit special offers from merchants and retailers.  But the social networking behemoth has brought on some partners and will be aggregating special offers from nine other sites as well: Gilt City, Home Run, KGB Deals, OpenTable, Plum District, Pop Sugar City, Tippr, Reach Local and Zozi.

By integrating its own special deals with that of the 9 partner groups, Facebook should be able to ensure a pretty regular selection of daily deals that can compete with the likes of Groupon and Living Social.  If you’re wondering why the competition in the daily deal arena has amped up as much as it has in recent months, consider a recent report from media researchers BIA/Kelsey that predicts the industry could be generate as much as $6.1 billion in U.S. sales alone by 2015.

Facebook will initially roll out the new service in only 5 cities – Dallas, Austin, Atlanta, San Francisco and San Diego.

“Local businesses (there) will be able to sign up to use this feature soon, and people will be able to find Deals in the coming weeks,” said a Facebook spokesperson.

The current version of Facebook Deals already lets businesses offer incentives and discounts to consumers, but only those who check-in through the Facebook Places service.

So there you have it.  Yet another entrant into the daily deal rat race.   Leave us your thoughts and comments below!

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