F-commerce, Yay or Nay?

No one can deny the power of Facebook. Being one of the most visited site with an active user base of 1.06 billion, Facebook store should have great potential for ecommerce practices. According to Deloitte, Facebook economy could worth £13 billion at the moment, and this figure will continue to rise in the future. This hype has even generated the term 'f-commerce'.

However, brands like Gap and Nordstrom have all closed down their Facebook stores after giving it a go. So why is this happening? 

Main reason: sales volume is low on Facebook. According to Practical ecommerce - for a lot of merchants, percentage of sales on Facebook is still in the single digits. The general public have already associated Facebook with social networking. People go on Facebook to party (social) instead of shopping. This belief puts a lot of businesses off. According to search engine watch, 'the use of Facebook as a direct sales channel reached its peak in Q2 2010, with just over 10 percent of marketers reportedly using F-commerce at that time. It steadily declined until another brief peak in Q2 2011; now, just over 5 percent of Facebook opportunities relate to commerce'. With so little businesses participating in such 'shopping mall', people will be even more reluctant to use this function. 

In my opinion, all businesses should have their own Facebook page since it is capable of driving brand awareness and site traffic. It is an excellent platform to engage with your customers, which is vital to maintain your business' social credentials. Moreover, Facebook has a wealth of data of users' likes and interests, which is a bonus compare to other sales or marketing channels. The store function is great for promotions, giveaways or flash sales (quoted from Julia Priddle, Channel Advisor), and should be integrated with your other sales channel seamlessly as part of a marketing mix. Treat it like a place for 'window shopping' and customer services. Afterall, Facebook is still a social networking site - instead of building social features on your own website, why not encourage transactions through engagement on Facebook?