What is the F-Commerce?
You have heard about E-commerce and M-commerce… but what about F-Commerce? According to Social Commerce Today, “F-Commerce is the use of Facebook as a platform for facilitating and executing sales transactions – either on Facebook itself or externally via the Facebook Open Graph. F-commerce is a form of social commerce.”
So far, brands have been using Facebook as a marketing tool to engage customers. These days, a shift is being observed: businesses are using it as a platform for facilitating and executing sales transactions.
Does it sound crazy? Not at all when you think about the beginning of the E-commerce. Go back in 1996, when there were only 36 million people online, and not one of them was used to shop on Internet… Therefore selling on Facebook makes sense:
- Facebook has more than 37 times the number of users than the whole web back in 1996.
- It took the web 14 years to reach an audience of 600 million; it took Facebook 7.
- Facebook is rapidly growing: 1 in 11 people are on Facebook globally and it grew in 2010 by 7.9 users per second.
- Facebook users spend up to 1.5 times more online.
Why the brands should use Facebook to sell their products?
- To reply to the needs of the customers. When asked, customers say the principal reasons for connecting with businesses on social sites are to buy and for deals.
- To present their products to their fans. As they already “like” the brand, they should be more receptive.
- To engage Facebook users in a sale where they feel comfortable instead of forcing them to go to another website.
- To be innovative around a new fun and interactive way to shop in order to increase the sales.
- To give exclusive offers to their fans: discounts, free delivery, free gifts, loyalty program…
- To become a loved brand thanks to the connection established between customers, their friends and their brand.
- To get real time feedback from the consumers as Facebook users are able to converse about the products with their friends and brands when they shop online.
- To target people easily.
The future of F-Commerce?
Does Facebook is going to change the way we shop as he changed the way we network and communicate?
More and more retailers are starting do f-commerce: Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, Bulgari, Coca-Cola, Delta, Diesel, Disney, Dove (Unilever), Gap, Heinz, Levi’s, Macy’s, Max Factor, Mazda, Nike, Nine West, Old Spice, P&G, Pampers, Pantene, Rachel Roy, Sears, Starbucks, Volkswagen, W Hotels, Walmart, Warner Bros…
Industry experts look optimistic about the future of f-commerce:
“Social media may not have driven sales in an obvious way so far, but the next logical step will be transactional social media. When you can buy products through Facebook, rather than just liking them, we’ll start to see a shift in the role of social media in the business” Manish Mehta, head of social media, Dell.
“In three to five years, 10 percent to 15 percent of total consumer spending in developed countries may go through sites such as Facebook” Mike Fauscette, Analyst, IDC Consulting.
It looks like Facebook is not just keen to become a better communication tool for its users; it is having an impact in the E-commerce business.