Social commerce

• "Social commerce is a kind of electronic commerce that

involves using social media, online media that supports
social interaction and user contributions, to assist in the
online buying and selling of products and services".
 Why social commerce?????

• Three-fourths of men ages 18 to 34 say they spend most of their

time in front of a computer screen vs. 18% in front of a TV screen,
according to a survey of 50,000 by AskMen.com, a lifestyle
website.
• 53% of more than 300 marketers planned to increase social-media
marketing spending this year, according to a Forrester presentation
in April. Nine in 10 consumers trust their peers more than
marketers, according to a recent survey of 25,000 by Nielsen.
• The share of Americans 18 and over online who use a social-
networking service more than quadrupled to 35% in 2008 from 8%
in 2005, according to Pew Internet & American Life Project.
 Why social commerce??

• Facebook is up to 250 million members, 50 million of whom joined in

the past three months. In April, they spent 13.9 billion minutes on
Facebook, up 700% from April 2008, says Nielsen NetView. About 30
million Facebook members access it through mobile devices
• Twitter users spent nearly 300 million minutes on the site in April,
3,712% more than in April 2008, Nielsen says.Twitter users spend
66% more dollars on the Internet than non-Twitter users, says
market researcher ComScore.
• More than 10,000 websites use Facebook Connect, a service that lets
Facebook users log in to affiliated sites using their Facebook account
and share information from those sites with their Facebook friends.
 Why social commerce?????

• LinkedIn has more than 365,000 company profiles.

More than 12 million small-business professionals are
members of LinkedIn.
• As smartphones such as iPhone and BlackBerry take
off, more people are updating their Facebook and
Twitter profiles while on the move. Smartphone
shipments are expected to surge to 164 million this year,
up 13% from 2008, says market researcher Forward
Concepts. The mobile social-networking industry is
expected to become a $3.3 billion market worldwide by
2013, ABI Research predic
 social commerce in India

• I would say ‘My Dala’ is a social commerce company.

• MyDala.com is among the first to roll out the concept

of group buying in India. By its third month in
business (February 2010), the website had closed over
100 deals, sold over 2140 vouchers—which adds to a
total saving of over Rs 15 lakh—just in the city of
Delhi.
USA TODAY ON SOCIAL COMMERCE

• Brands such as Ford, Levi Strauss and Chevron are increasingly

reengineering marketing operations to embrace digital tools to
more nimbly brand products, support customers and cash in on
the social-media wave
• Brands are using social networking platforms to do four things,
add customers quickly, do word of mouth marketing,
enhance customer service, and speak directly with
customer
• Brands that don’t know how to get their arms around social media
marketing seem to be held back by worrying about the legal
implications of customers helping customers, and about being too
honest with customers
 Successful examples

• Sony has netted over a £1M Vaio sales in a proof-of-

concept test of using social media as a direct sales
channel
• The computing giant − a pioneer in online selling
having generated $6.5m (£4.31m) in sales through its
Twitter profile alone since it launched in 2007.
• P&G have just trialled a Facebook store for their new
Pampers Cruisers line of diapers –
selling out of 1000 packs @ $9.99 in under an hour.
 Successful examples

• Tuangou, Hot Social Commerce Trend from China: G

roupBuy + FlashMob = Fun
It works like this.  You want to buy something from a
local store – a car, a luxury fashion item, gadget or
gizmo.  So you tap your social and local networks
online for others wanting the same thing and you
organize a flash-mob; you agree to turn up at the poor
unsuspecting store en-masse at a particular time and
demand a group discount; and you get it
•
 top successful stories of 2009

• Toy manufacturer Mattel starts selling direct with DecisionStep’s

ShopTogether social shopping toolbar at http://shop.mattel.com
. Manufacturers (finally) lose fear of e-commerce, and jump in
fully loaded with social shopping.

• Dell’s Twitter deal feed nets $7m in sales.  Sometimes the simplest
ideas are the best.  Realtime deals for the Realtime web.

Facebook Connect goes mainstream as a social shopping tool (

43% retailers use now, further 31% to adopt in next 12 months),
with Fluid’s ‘Fluid Social social shopping app
leading the vanguard (Vans and Jansport) allowing shoppers to
shop together, seek advice, share opinions and purchase
 Top successful stories in 2009

• 1-800-Flowers Claims First Retail Transaction Inside

Facebook
– at 11:50 am EST on July 8, 2009 1-800 Flowers. Is
this the future for monetizing the social web?
• Amazon’s new Universal Wishlist & Tag-Based
Reviews up the ante (again) for the bread (ratings and
reviews) and butter (social wishlists) of social
commerce.
 Social commerce in real world-15 top companies

• How brands are deploying social commerce (and other innovative e-

commerce solutions) in the real world.  American
Eagle, Anthropologie, Charlotte Russe, Gap, Net-a-Porter,
Zappos, Apple, Amazon, Macy’s, Nordstrom,  JCPenney, Sears,
Walmart, Sephora, and Wisteria.
• Technologies covered include Facebook Connect, Facebook apps,
Social networking invitations with various incentives, Sharing
buttons anywhere and everywhere (from wish lists to
checkout), blog and virtual world launches, mobile app debuts
or new releases of preexisting apps, group gifting platforms, e-
gift cards, branded iGoogle portals and RSS widgets, real-time
co-shopping platforms and social shopping site sponsorships
 Facts and statistics

• Investment is pouring into social commerce, the fusion of social media

with e-commerce: Over $90m in the last sixty days…
• Social Shopping site ThisNext has raised a further $1.2m funding (total
funding just under $9m) (Jan 29, 2010)
• Social Shopping site (Group Buy), BuyWithMe has raised
$5.5 million funding (Jan 21, 2010)
• Social Shopping site (Group Buy), Groupon has raised $30 million funding
(Dec 2, 2010)
• Social Shopping site Blippy, has raised $1.6 million funding (Jan 15, 2010)

• Social Shopping software (social media stores) provider Alvenda has

raised $5 million funding (Jan 17, 2010)
 FACTS & STATSTICS

• Private Sale Site KupiVIP has received $20m funding

(Jan 18, 2010)
• Private Sale Site Ideeli has raised $20m funding (in
addition to Kodiak Venture Partners original funding
of $3.8m) (Dec 8, 2009) (Private Sale competitor Gilt
raised $40m funding back in July 2009)
 Where to start with social commerce: lead
strategy

• Listen: Begin with a simple social media monitoring solution

that monitors conversations and competitors – how are
competitors using social commerce?
• Experiment – Start with small scale experiments using the
toolset to identify what works for you.  Test and learn to explore
ROI potential
• Apply – Apply learning and build on tools that work for you,
integrating social commerce into your overall digital strategy
• Develop – Constantly evolve and adapt to beat user expectations
– deliver “joy of use” with new insights and technology
Thanking
you