Social Commerce

2. Social Commerce Jose Fuentes Katie Kirk Thomas Stubbs

3. What is Social Commerce? …the relationship and fusion of e-commerce and social media together to help buyers and sellers make better purchasing decisions online. …the next generation of interaction between buyers and sellers.

4. History of Social Commerce …The term was introduced by Yahoo! in November 2005to describe a set of online collaborative shopping tools such as shared pick lists, user ratings andother user generated content-sharing of online product information and advice …The concept was developed distinguish user-generated advertorial content on e-commerce sites, and to include collaborative e-commerce tools that enable shoppers to get advice from trusted individuals, find goods and services and then purchase them …Today social commerce has expanded to include the range of social media tools and content used in the context of e-commerce. Examples of social commerce include customer ratings and reviews, user recommendations and referrals, social shopping tools (sharing the act of shopping online), forums and communities, social media optimization, social applications and social advertising. …Some try to distinguish 'social commerce' from 'social shopping', referring to social commerce as collaborative networks of online vendors, and social shopping as collaborative activity of online shoppers.

5. BazaarVoice Survey On Social Commerce …81 percent of respondents stated they receive advice from friends and followers relating to a product purchase through a social site; 74 percent of those who receive advice found it to be influential in their decision. 90% of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know. … Friends still play an important role in influencing consumers; 83 percent of online shoppers said they are interested in sharing information about their purchases with people they know, while 74 percent are influenced by the opinions of others in their decision to buy the product in the first place. …Users put great trust in their social networks…respondents said they considered information shared on their networks when making a decision. …Recommendations from family and friends trump all other consumer touch points when it comes to influencing purchases. Consumers trust friends above experts.

6. Today Consumers Want and Expect Product ratings, reviews and feedback Wish-lists, favorites, Q&A functions Discussion forums, chat rooms, blogs User profiles and personalized pages Coupons, referrals and subscriptions How-to videos, podcasts, video uploads User-generated content, tags, feeds

7. With Marketing Resistance… …Social commerce works by allowing customers to do the marketing themselves …Examples: Amazon and eBay – companies which marry the social to the commercial with reviews, profiles, and user groups.

8. With Social Commerce You Can Expect: …More conversions & More sales - proven ROI and sales increases …Loyal customers – turn consumers into fans …Operational savings - fewer product returns, lower customer service costs …Improved products and services – free feedback and market research …More site visitors - drive search traffic to your site through user-generated-content …Measurable metrics – track your ROI at every stage

9. Why use social commerce? …Measurability …As marketing budgets decrease, companies need justifiable, inexpensive marketing channels that deliver maximum ROI. Definable metrics have become necessary. …Companies do not have to pay for impressions or clicks …Companies can track every sale created bysocial commerce initiatives.