In tandem with yesterday's post, this article further shows how socially oriented Web commerce (Facebook stores, blogshops, etc) is different than older and more 'mainstream' dotcom or e-commerce stores.

In addition to the Social Web being more personal and relationships oriented, there should be more focus on interaction and engagement as explained in this article.

In terms of those 'Facebook blogshops', we see that many of them do not understand this, as they use Facebook very much like they would use an older media like email in that they would incessantly 'spam' the walls of their friends or fans.  There are, however, a handful of owners who are trying hard to engage people on Facebook, like S + S who are doing similar things as what is being described in this article.

Social commerce is emerging and the people who are trying to make use of it do not necessarily know how best to use it.

From: http://blogs.forbes.com/ciocentral/2011/06/27/attention-facebook-shoppers-get-ready-for-f-commerce/

Attention Facebook Shoppers: Get Ready For F-Commerce

Jun. 27 2011 

Posted by Eric Savitz

Written by Tim McMullen

Tim McMullen: Shopping Facebook.

Ready or not, we’re approaching the age of F-commerce: Facebook-based retailing.

It’s time for retailers around the world to prepare for the rise of the Facebook consumer, a new breed in convenience-seeking online shoppers. From shoes to plane tickets, it’s all right there on the social network.

Facebook now offers options for retailers to tailor their Facebook page layout to look less like the familiar profile page and more like a Web page. The simple click-and-pay option seems to be attracting more shoppers. And where shoppers flock, retailers follow.

One thing in particular that’s encouraging businesses to participate in F-commerce is the fact that the platform is completely free. There are no hosting or domain fees (yet), and Facebook isn’t keeping portions of your profits. As more and more people adopt social media, F-commerce will only grow and take on more retailers.

Facebook has more than 600 million members, a fat slice of the world’s online population. People want to be social, and shopping is a social act in itself. And retailers are paying attention to the changes taking place within the online shopping world.

When businesses post news or updates to their Facebook account, they hope that users “like” what they have to say. Now, instead of sharing thoughts, people can share discounts and products. “Sally now likes Delta and has purchased two tickets to Hawaii,” could show up in your news feed anytime. Delta, Coca-Cola and Barneys New York are just a few of the major brands that have added a Facebook shop to their fan page.

Best Buy is one retailer that wanted to offer more options for their customers, so they created a Facebook page that has a shop-and-share option. This is in addition to their e-commerce site; savvy sites are not switching but rather adding channels to their arsenal of outlets.

Now, disregard the fake profiles for newborns and people’s cats and go straight for the fastest growing demographic on Facebook: Women over 55. I’m thinking online shopping has a great deal to do with their interest in Facebook. And I couldn’t be more… right.

According to a survey conducted for Kirkland’s, a home decor specialty store with brick-and-mortar and online stores, that’s exactly what this growing audience wants. It’s important for retailers to recognize that they must prepare for F-commerce by engaging their Facebook audience first. With Kirkland’s specifically, coupons and discounts are their game.

s was a virtually unknown retailer in the social commerce space that blew everyone away when they became the sixth-fastest growing fan page on Facebook. Just four days after launching their Cha-Ching! interactive game promotion, Kirkland’s went from 43,000 fans to 140,000. They have since surpassed their goal of 200,000 fans. Now, this is all without actually selling merchandise on their Facebook page. They are still in the engagement stage, working with their customers to make their Facebook site more fun and trustworthy at the same time.

The promotion included a $25,000 cash prize and a chance to win Kirkland’s merchandise in a swap game where people trade virtual merchandise with other players. And everyone who plays the game receives a coupon for future purchases.

This is a positive step into the direction of F-commerce. Interactive games will keep an audience interested, and will solidify pages in terms of getting sales. In the survey, Kirkland’s found a majority of their Facebook customers wanted to save money, and to see merchandise and prices alongside content such as decorating ideas.

After conducting the survey, they saw a purpose and direction for their Facebook page that was different from their online community, mykirklands.com, and they went for it. The survey clearly showed that more and more Facebook users want to engage on Facebook. Campaigns such as the Cha-Ching! promotion are driving users to the social media hub and retailers must quickly follow to meet the demands of the users.

With the Kirkland’s campaign, we saw that 36-45 year old females were more involved with the online community, and that 46-55 year olds were more engaged with the Facebook page (which squashes the belief that F-commerce is limited to young and hip brands). Another interesting find was that the online community members were generally not interested in Facebook. They went online for different reasons.

The critics of F-commerce have begged the question, if Facebook starts to overlap with more traditional means of online shopping, why have two touch points? As we learned from the success of Kirkland’s, it seems that it would be best practice to have multiple touch points because the consumers have the option of how they do their online shopping. There was little crossover between the online users at mykirklands.com and the Facebook users, which shows that there isn’t that universal preference just yet.

It’s no secret that people spend hours on their Facebook pages weekly or even daily, whether it’s on their smart phone, tablet or computer. This sort of accessibility is what’s driving retailers to set up shop on the social network. F-commerce is still in its early stages, but judging by the consumer response so far, many more retailers are sure to begin exploring it within the next few months.

This article explains how the new Social Web is different from the old Google (or IMO the eCommerce Web).  I think we can extrapolate the implications for blogshops which are a part of the Social Web.

The old Google Web is more synonymous with the dotcom era, and/or the period right after it when the Web was trying to right itself after the shakeout.  Entities from that era- eBay, Amazon and other e-commerce sites like Dell are based on 'utility relationship'.  They are all just content.  Web commerce in that paradigm is defined in terms of shoppers looking for things to buy.

In the Social Web, 'relationships between people' become the main focus, so online shopping is more about interacting with people (business owners), other buyers and brands.  People are not immediately connected to specific products, but to the persons who sell those products.  In this paradigm, the people behind the businesses are the primary focus of commercial relationships.  This is how F-Commerce and blogshops work.

In other words, the Social Web is more personal, more interactive and is really about building relationships.  Social commerce enterprises like Facebook stores and blogshops need to understand that theirs is not a faceless business, but that there is much payoff to be gained if they share more of themselves with their customers (or more appropriately, fans).

From: http://allthingsd.com/20110623/the-web-is-shrinking-now-what/

Ben Elowitz, Founder and CEO, Wetpaint

The Web Is Shrinking. Now What?

JUNE 23, 2011 AT 11:30 AM PT

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We all read the statistics every week documenting the meteoric new growth areas of the Internet, and they are impressive:

Online video is exploding, with annual user growth of more than 45 percent. Mobile-device time spent increased 28 percent last year — with average smartphone time spent doubling. And social networks are now used by 90 percent of U.S. Internet users — for an average of more than four hours a month.

None of this is a newsflash. Every venture capitalist, Web publisher, and digital marketer is hyper-aware of these three trends.

But what’s happening to the rest of the Web?

The Web Is Shrinking. Really.

When you take these three growth areas out of the picture, the size of the hole left behind is staggering: the rest of the Web — the tried and true core that we thought would have limitless growth — is already shrinking.

Here are the facts:

When you exclude just Facebook from the rest of the Web, consumption in terms of minutes of use shrank by nearly nine percent between March 2010 and March 2011, according to data from comScore. And, even when you include Facebook usage, total non-mobile Internet consumption still dropped three percent over the same period.

We’ve known that social is growing lightning fast — notably, Facebook consumption, which grew by 69 percent — but now it’s clear that Facebook is not growing in addition to the Web. Rather, it’s actually taking consumption away from the publishers who compete on the rest of the Web.

And just what is the rest of the Web?

I have been calling it the “document Web,” based on how Google and other Web architectures view its pages as documents, linked together. But increasingly, it might as well be called the “searchable Web” since it’s accessed predominantly as a reference, and navigated primarily via search.

And it’s becoming less relevant.

In the last year, Facebook’s share of users’ time online grew from one out of every 13 minutes of use nationwide, to one out of every eight. In aggregate, that means the document Web was down more than half a billion hours of use (that’s more than 800 lifetimes) this March versus last March. And in financial terms, that represents a lost opportunity of $2.2 billion in advertising inventory that didn’t exist this year.

The Creation of a New, Connected Web

The change in the Web’s direction is a clear indication to me that we aren’t just in the midst of a boom for new interaction modes, but rather in a generational overhaul of the Internet.

What replaces the declining searchable Web is a new and “fully connected” digital life. You may have heard this before. After all, the promise of the Web was to connect pages with hyperlinks. Well, this time, “connected” means much more. It means the Web connects us, as people, to each one of the individuals online; and those connections, ultimately, extend from one of us to all of us.

Just as significantly, this all happens in real time, and at nearly all times.

And here’s what’s different when you connect people, as opposed to pages: Now, the Web knows who we are (identity), is with us at all times wherever we go (mobile), threads our relationships with others (social), and delivers meaningful experiences beyond just text and graphics (video).

The connected, social Web is alive, moving, proactive, and personal, while the document Web is just an artifact — suited as a universal reference, but hardly a personal experience.

The Social Web Versus the Searchable Web

Analytical explanations — increasing smartphone penetration, bandwidth availability, and technology sophistication — fill in some of the gaps as we try to understand this sea change, but they fall short.

Something larger is afoot, and it’s not about science or technology. Rather, as human beings, we have changed how we fit the Internet into our lives.

And the nature of the Web is changing to match. The old searchable Web is crashing; while the new connected, social Web is lifting off.

The implications for publishers are massive.

The last decade has been defined by the rise of Google as the nearly limitless supplier of traffic to digital media properties. And so a generation of digital media publishers developed and followed the same playbook: create lots of content around top keywords, engineer for search engine optimization (SEO) and expand the surface area in search engines to reach more users. The objective was to catch visitors in their net; expand reach — as measured by ComScore — look more impressive to advertisers and capture more demand.

The landscape is changing, and fast.

SEO’s strategic value is quickly fading as Google’s growth slows and its prominence in distribution slides away. In its place, Facebook has become the wiring hub of the connected Web — a new “home base” alternative to Google’s dominance of the last decade. Facebook began receiving as many visits as Google in March 2010, and already garners more than three times as many minutes as Google each month from users, according to comScore. Looking ahead, the best projections of U.S. online reach indicate that Facebook will surpass Google on that metric in less than a year, too.

And with this change, the nature of the relationship between users and publishers is being altered fundamentally — and perhaps forever.

Search offers a utility relationship, connecting users to content for the briefest of transactions; typically, it provokes users to just one pageview so they can find a piece of information, and then they move on.

But social discovery builds a relationship. Leveraging social endorsements and an environment of serendipitous discovery, consumers meet publishers in a meaningful context. As a result, the relationship that forms is stronger — and, more importantly for publishers, it’s branded.

Unlike the ecosystem set up by Google, where the search engine ironically intermediates between users and the objects of their queries (so that users reinforce their loyalty to Google, far more than to the publisher), in the world of social publishing, the Facebook hub enables a direct, if constrained, relationship between users and media brands.

The results — at least for my own company, Wetpaint — are that social media brings more qualified eyeballs and retains them. People who come via social media stay longer on the first visit; and they are more likely to come back sooner and more frequently. Overall, our visitors from social networks have a relationship that’s several times stronger — and several times as valuable when measured in engagement, pageviews, and revenues — than the relationships people form when then arrive through search.

The Human Connection

But it’s not just a change in mechanics. It’s a change in our human relationships.

Lewis D’Vorkin, the Chief Product Officer at Forbes, speaks of it when he and Alex Knapp talk about “live” media, quantum entanglement and mutually rewarding relationships that bind authors and readers on the new connected Web. It’s a sense of the Web moving from static published reference to living digital companion.

But there’s even more, and this vast change foreshadows bigger and better impacts on our lives. The greatest innovators in social media are driving exactly along that edge today. As one friend commented recently on the full potential of connected lives, by being joined more closely together, we can increase empathy and meaning, while decreasing isolation.

Toward a Fully Connected Future

Admittedly, we’re early in the replacement cycle when it comes to the connected Web. Even for strong connected Web performers like Huffington Post, Wetpaint, and others, the sum total of traffic from Facebook, Twitter, video, and mobile may add up to only half the total, or less.

But the trend has tipped, and with that tip has come both the business necessity and the human impact potential of elevating the relationship.

As the document Web of old shrinks, the new connected Web expands and delivers experiences that make our time online more effective, efficient, and enjoyable.

And that changes the role of companies on the Web from mere content publishers or providers to truly connected digital partners for real people.

Ben Elowitz (@elowitz) is co-founder and CEO of web publisher Wetpaint, and author of the Digital Quarters blog about the future of digital media. Prior to Wetpaint, Elowitz co-founded Blue Nile (NILE). He is an angel investor in media and e-commerce companies.

Blogshops and their variants on Facebook emerged in SE Asia as crude solutions to overcome order processing and payment facility barriers required on standard e-commerce online platforms.  They represent very crude approaches to enable mass participation of online commerce.

In this article, we can see that the same problem occurs in other parts of the world as well.  The difference here is that while the option for manual payment processing is mentioned here (and described as primitive), it is not considered as a viable approach.  In Malaysia and Singapore, however, the inconvenience is tolerated and a model of online retailing is developed that is based on the uniqueness of the hosting platform.

From: http://www.mizalla.com/blog/2011/06/17/social-commerce-f-commerce-and-the-paypal-dilemma/

Social Commerce, F-commerce, and the Paypal Dilemma

Posted by Pascale M. under Advice & Tips, E-commerce Solutions, Social Media for Businesses |

We just received a letter from Mohammed, a florist in Beirut. Mohammed was speed-reading through our blog and came across a post about F-commerce.

He mentioned that he has relatively no experience in online retail but he’s interested in expanding his business on Facebook. The main set-back he says is that existent e-store Facebook applications allow monetary transactions only through Paypal. Lebanon is on the list of Paypal’s blocked countries, which makes it impossible to expand a business through F-commerce. He also mentioned that he doesn’t have a website or e-store at the moment and that he’d like to know more about the concept of F-commerce.

“…How can I keep myself updated on the status of F-commerce in Lebanon? Will it be authorized and what do I need to make it happen on my Facebook page?”

The thing is, Facebook signed a deal with Paypal in February 2010. PayPal processes payments on Facebook and handles payments for Facebook Credits (FB’s virtual currency).

There are a bunch of interesting applications out there that allow retailers to add their products online. Pavement for instance, is an application that integrates an online shop with a business’ Facebook Page. Paypal however, is needed to process payments on the F-store, which leads us back to the basic dilemma. Mohammed can opt for another application like BigCommerce SocialShop, where he can link his e-store to his Facebook Page, add a shop tab, and automatically upload products from his site. When customers click on a product, the application will take them to the original website where they can shop freely, using the website’s payment gateway.  But Mohammed doesn’t have a website.

In this case, one can choose to upload products in an album on Facebook, mention details about items and pricing in the comments section, and set an e-mail account in order to process client requests. That’s a primitive solution, we know. Hiring a developer to develop a tailored application will reap better outcomes, however, other payment gateways cannot be integrated with FB applications yet. Mohammed can choose to open his own e-commerce website, which requires a registered Lebanese company, design, development, social media, and advertising; in other words, unforeseen expenses for a micro-business.

Mohammed needs a service that allows retailers to benefit from a ready to use e-commerce platform that contains all the tools required to market and sell products with minimal operation costs. This will allow him to expand his business with an electronic branch that is fully run and maintained for him.
That’s exactly what we do here at Mizalla.com. We’ve created real solutions for merchants in Lebanon, the Middle East, and North Africa. For inquiries, a simple phone call will do. Click here, for further details.

Oh, on another note, we’re secretly hoping that Mohammed will add his feedback in the comments section on this post. Let’s see how this goes!

F-Commerce

This is an interesting slides presentation about F-Commerce.

From:
http://www.slideshare.net/paulsmarsden/fcommerce-and-the-solomo-consumer

On Slide #7, they should have listed the blogshop style stores on 'Transactions on Facebook.' The fact that it is missing there is that the mainstream has not really detected the popularity nor the significance of this business model as a legitimate aspect of social commerce.

Reigning Queens of the Blogshop World

I found a few interesting points in this article.

One is that the writer attributes the rise of online shopping in this region of the world to blogshopping.  I have considered this for a while now, and it is good to see an expert in this field thinking the same.

E-commerce took off in the 1990s in the US and developed parts of the world, but not here in SE Asia.  Internet usage rose during the dotcom years, but not online shopping.  The main focus of a large part of the academic literature in the field of e-commerce in Malaysia, for instance, focused on trying to understand why people do not buy online.  Apart from the buy/sell/trade boards in local online communities like Lowyat and Mudah (which came about much later actually), there was a great lack of Malaysian (or Singaporean or any SE Asian) e-commerce sites like an Amazon or a Dell.com for instance.

My own experience confirms this as well.  When I first taught an e-marketing class back in 2006, I used to ask the students every semester if anyone had ever bought anything online.  At that time, no hands ever went up.  Reasons given are the ones we know so well already- no credit card ownership, fear of being cheated, security concerns, etc.  As time went by, more hands rose, and invariably, their online shopping experiences were either with Air Asia... or blogshops.  These days, most of my students (the girls in particular) know of blogshops or have ever bought something off one.  They still do not purchase off off a major e-commerce portal like eBay or Amazon, but they are apt to have purchased something off a local blogshop.

I think blogshops represent a kind of SE Asian e-commerce boom, not a dotcom boom, but a blogshop boom.  It is the small blogshops that have brought online shopping to our shores.  It has been happening very quietly, and without garnering much attention.

Also, while Amazon and eBay represented e-commerce, blogshops are vehicles of social commerce.  If social commerce is the second wave of online shopping, then it can be said that we have bypassed the e-commerce revolution and stepped right into the social commerce revolution.

In this sense, blogshops are an alternative commercial channel, one that operates outside the mainstream.  It uses social media and is leveraged upon users' resourcefulness to create a commercial system taht is accessible to the people in the region.

Another interesting point made here is the evolution of the blogshop.  Although they started off with 'basic' designs, many have moved on to become more professional and mainstream shops.  In this sense, a blogshop can represent a model of how a business is begun (using social media, social connections, etc).

From: http://www.myfatpocket.com/fashion/touch-of-vogue/reigning-queens-of-the-blogshop-world.html

Reigning Queens of the Blogshop World

Monday, 15 March 2010 09:59 | by Minyan 

 

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years, you would have shopped online at one point or another. Online shopping has been in existence for a long time, ever since the existence of internet banking made online transactions possible, but the phenomenon of online shopping in local context only really took off with the rise of online blogshops by enterprising young people who saw the gap in the demand market, filled it, and created a whole new avenue of shopping altogether.
The very first blogshops were basic - they were usually hosted on free websites such as Blogspot or Livejournal, had simple pictures and layouts and boasted relatively small collection of items, usually clothes, for sale. However, as they became immensely popular and more blogshops started sprouting up in the internet world, competition drove many of the owners to find various means and ways to differentiate themselves from the competition.

Some took the time and effort to create beautiful fashion layouts, while others took to designing clothes themselves instead of getting their clothes from the same manufacturer as everyone else. Thing is, competition was so intense that consumers were often spoiled for choice, and the lack of a differentiating shtick meant that many blogshops that joined too late into the game eventually were forced out of competition.



Yet, despite the cutthroat nature of the business, some blogshops have managed to pull so far ahead of the rest of their competitors that they were rumoured to rake in 5-figures sum every month. These blogshops are the ones that people can name from the top of their heads, the ones whose clothes you'd at least have a piece of in your wardrobe, and the ones whose collections are sold out within the first few minutes of their launch. Hard work, excellent customer service, cutting-edge fashion... these are just some of the reasons why some of these blogshops are holding court over the rest in the blogshop world.

Here, we share with you some of our very favourite blogshops. They may not be the biggest or most popular ones around, but they have captured our hearts (and wallets!) in more ways than one!

Little Red Heels

Previously known as LittleRedHeels, now ILoveLRH, owners Min and Xiang owned what could be considered one of the pioneering blogshops in the blogsphere. While many of the earlier blogshops played it safe with their presentations, LRH surged ahead with their gorgeous edgy layouts that looked straight out of the pages of a fashion spread, unique clothing not found in any other blogshop and of course, excellent service. Even if the clothes did not catch our eye in a particular collection, the amazing photography was well worth a second (third, and fourth) look, making LRH one of our early favourites.

LRH has since migrated to a dotcom domain and revamped its site to create a more professional feel. While service standards remain as professional as ever, the beautiful spreads have unfortunately been abandoned, possibly due to a lack of time on the part of the owners. Shame! Nevertheless, we are still fans of their simple and clean layout at the new site and their quirky collections!

BonitoChico

Indisputably the most popular local blogshop right now, BonitoChico's collections are the ones to look out for, because should you even dare to be 10 minutes late for the launch of a new collection, you can be pretty sure the item you're hankering after would be out of stock by the time you place your order. The massive popularity of BonitoChico isn't without its reasons either. We like to think of BonitoChico's selling points as a three-pronged approach: aesthetically pleasing photographs, professional and efficient service, and most important of all, self-designed and manufactured apparel. In a market saturated with blogshops selling the same clothes over and over again, the effort taken to self manufature clothes is refreshing and much appreciated by us shoppers!

Agneselle

It's true: Girls like to look at other girls, especially if they're pretty! Blame it on our voyeuristic or kaypoh nature, there's no doubt that a blogshop with pretty models would attract more attention comparatively. (yes, we are superficial, get over it) But of course, that's only one of the reasons why Agneselle (with model/owner Pei Ling of Hey! Gorgeous fame) is vastly popular among the avid online shoppers. With its self-manufactured collections skewed more towards young working adults, its apparel are often a mix of casual chic and dressy. Paired with a model that makes everything look impossibly good, it's little wonder that Agneselle reigns as one of the most popular local blogshops.

Catwalkclose

Much like Agneselle, Catwalkclose features a variety of casual yet chic apparel don by a model that makes everything look fabulous. Unlike Agneselle however, Catwalkclose features collections (self-manufactured too, yes!) that are much more adventurous in its play on prints and colours. We are especially huge fans of the breezy chiffon materials and bright flower prints that have been dominating their recent collections. One of our favourite things about Catwalkclose's apparel is that while it doesn't jump on the bandwagon of latest fashion trends like so many blogshops do, it remains fashion forward, and more importantly, prices are wallet-friendly!

HerVelvetVase

Another one of the seasoned players in the game, HerVelvetVase, or HVV for short, is one of the few blogshops whose popularity has not wavered since its inception. And for good reason. Collections are, of course, self-manufactured, and fashion veers towards apparel in classic cuts and colours, in a range of formal to casual. While it's easy for those who are not careful to border into boring territory when dabbling in basic cuts and colours, HVV keeps their fashion fresh with detailing and and prints. Innate understanding of what makes their costumers tick and what earns their loyalty? HVV definitely possesses it.

VainGloriousYou

Sprightly, cheerful and youthful - that's definitely the vibe that VainGloriousYou has going on with its shop presentation, clothes and model. Targeting perhaps a slightly younger crowd than the rest of its counterparts, VGY has been extremely popular among student shoppers with its edgier street fashion, and brighter hues. Model/owner Tricia, also formerly of Hey! Gorgeous fame, rocks out her outfits and makes even us, who are not huge fans of the street fashion, want to buy her clothes!

AcrossTheBloodyUniverse

What we like about AcrossTheBloodyUniverse (besides its cheeky name of course!) is how the intimate nature of its collections. Each collection only has a couple of pieces, each piece painstakingly designed by co-owners Mery and Sarah, who also model their own apparel. Their small collections ensure that costumers are not overwhelmed by too many choices and have more time to mull over their choices of colours etc. In fact, shopping at AcrossTheBloodyUniverse feels more like being showed the closet of a close girlfriend. Friendly service and intimate atmosphere - the shopping experience with ATBU is indeed a unique one!

Odorikoya

One of the younger players in the world of online shopping, there's a reason why Odorikoya has been flourishing as a late entrant while many of its competitors have crashed and burned. Odorikoya catches your attention immediately in two ways, first of all, its Japanese name sets it aside from the rest of its competitors (with an endless array of names with wordplay on "glamour", "allure", "vogue" etc etc, who can differentiate one from another anymore?), and secondly, its layout which is a combination of chic and adorable - irresistible! (we are suckers for pretty layouts!) Excellent presentation, uniquely-sourced collections and reasonable pricing - Odorikoya's definitely a keeper in our books!

Shopping is ‘almost entirely social’

Here is yet another study that confirms the rising importance of social influences in buyer behavior. 

From: http://www.internetretailing.net/2011/06/shopping-is-%E2%80%98almost-entirely-social%E2%80%99-study/

Shopping is ‘almost entirely social’

Submitted by Chloe Rigby on June 22, 2011 – 11:03 amNo Comment

Consumers are far more likely to trust social contacts including friends and family than retailers when it comes to deciding what to buy, according to new research. Indeed, by the time they arrive at a retailer’s website, they have already decided what they will buy, and spend just six minutes of a 24-hour purchase journey there, found the study commissioned by social commerce company Reevoo.
While 70% of shoppers rate friends’ recommendations as important, just 28% value recommendations from a shop assistant. Some 62% value consumer reviews, and 35% the media, found the survey of 1,200 people, carried out by FlyResearch.

Social commerce and mobiles are increasingly part of the decision-making process, with 39% going to Facebook when researching a purchase decision and 38% pulling out their smartphone, even when standing in a high street shop.

Some 87% look at consumer reviews before making a purchase, and 69% are more likely to give those review credence when they can see bad as well as good reviews. And shoppers are also more likely to look for independent feedback when considering buying from a small or lesser-known retailer: some 73% buying in these circumstances look for feedback; 58% specifically for service reviews. On the side of the coin, only 24% believe their behaviour is influenced by advertising.

Revoo, which today launches a portfolio of new social commerce products, says the scale of the social input into the purchase decision is “previously unimagined”. Its chief executive and founder, Richard Anson, said: “Our latest research shows that today’s purchase process is almost entirely social. This is because, before people buy anything, their first thought is to take advice from their family, friends and even from total strangers. And they get this advice from both established and evolving social channels, including consumer reviews and social networks such as Facebook.

“We already know that invoking social content results in incremental sales, on average delivering an uplift of 18%.

“The impact of consumers attaching the greatest importance to social channels is that control of the shopping process is being taken completely out of the hands of the retailers. Reevoo cannot give that control back to retailers again – that genie is well and truly out of the bottle – but what we can do, and are doing, is give all retailers, big and small, very welcome solutions that enable them to participate in and influence the process again.”

He added: “Trust is, by definition, hard to build, easy to lose, and harder still to rebuild once lost. The retailers that proactively build the most trust, win. It’ll always be up to retailers and brands then to do the things that generate trust, such as provide good post-sales service. But our new products enable brands to tell their customers how good they are, and allows consumers to discover and act upon such peer opinions for themselves.”

You can download the report by clicking here.

Our view: In a way today’s findings from Reevoo are not news at all. It’s many of us know from our own experience to be the case. Our emails are full of retail marketing messages, but we’d prefer to ask around people we know and trust to find out which retailers we can trust, particularly when we’re parting with our hard-earned cash to buy something we know little about.

As the company’s Richard Anson says, it’s a flashback to what used to happen. “Fifty years ago,” he said, “you would have known your shopkeeper very well, you would have known your fellow shoppers, been able to ask questions, and known if this was a retailer to use or one to avoid. Today, even though people are disparate and geographically widespread, they are actually becoming much closer via social network platforms… really, the past is becoming the present again.” The onus is still with retailers: to offer us service that we really do want to tell our friends about.

A report on Social Commerce

From: http://www.shop.org/press/20110527

For Immediate Release
Kathy Grannis
(202)783-7971
grannisk@nrf.com

New Study Evaluates Consumer Behaviors,
Attitudes toward “Social Commerce"

-Research Examines Popularity of "Group-Buying Sites", Location-Based Apps-

Washington, May 27, 2011 – Shoppers are willing to interact with retailers through a variety of social networks and retailers have limitless opportunities to capitalize on the momentum, according to the 2011 Social Commerce Study, a joint research project by Shop.org, comScore and Social Shopping Labs. The report, which evaluates shopping directly influenced by social media, polled 1787 adult online shoppers in April 2011.

According to the survey, 42 percent of online consumers have “followed” a retailer proactively through Facebook, Twitter or a retailer’s blog, and the average person follows about six retailers.

While shoppers’ reasoning for following a retailer varies, the majority of respondents (58%) said they follow companies to find deals, while nearly half (49%) say they want to keep up to date on products. More than one-third also follow retailers for information on contests and events (39%).

Though many retailers use social media to build their brand, research indicates that companies may also be able to monetize these channels. According to the survey, more than half of Facebook users (56%) say they have clicked through to a retailer’s website because of a Facebook post, while over two-thirds of Twitter users (67%) say a post has spurred them to click through to a website.

Additionally, the appetite for buying directly through social networks appears strong: one-third of shoppers say they would be likely to make a purchase directly from Facebook (35%) or Twitter (32%).

Given the popularity of devices like iPhones and Droids, many shoppers are using smartphones to easily engage in social media on a regular basis. According to the survey, 42 percent of Twitter users access the site on their mobile phone at least once a day, while the same is true for 34 percent of Facebook users. In addition, about one-third (32%) of people view YouTube clips daily from their smartphones.
“Instead of waiting to get back on their desktop computer to watch videos or interact online, Americans are easily accessing social networks when they have even a few moments of down time, whether they’re scanning Facebook news feeds while picking up their kids from school or tweeting about their shopping experience while browsing the mall,” said Fiona Swerdlow, Head of Research at Shop.org. “The popularity of mobile devices will only boost the power of social commerce, which presents an incredible opportunity for retailers.”

Shoppers are also using mobile devices for research and information while shopping in stores. According to the survey, nearly half of consumers (47%) have accessed customer reviews in store using their mobile device with men (55%) more likely to access these reviews in store than women (39%).

-Group-Buying Sites, Location-Based Apps Present Opportunities-

Though still in their infancy, group-buying sites like Groupon, LivingSocial and Gilt City have already made their mark on many online shoppers. According to the survey, eight in 10 (82%) online consumers are aware of group-buying sites, though only 19 percent of survey respondents have actually made a purchase through one of the sites. Those who do leverage group-buying sites appear to be enthusiasts, as the majority of consumers (57%) have spent over $100 through these sites to date.

While some traditional retailers have experimented with group-buying offers, the majority of shoppers say they have purchased non-traditional retail items like food and drinks (18%), entertainment (16%), and personal care items (12%) through these sites.

“Many shoppers are aware of group-buying sites like Groupon and LivingSocial, but haven’t yet been compelled to make their first purchase,” said Peter Leech, founder, Social Shopping Labs. “As these sites gain momentum and spread to more cities around the country, retailers have an opportunity to experiment not only with established sites but also group-buy promotions on their own Facebook pages and websites.”

The report also evaluated awareness and usage of location-based applications like Foursquare, Yelp and Gowalla. On the basis of sheer awareness among consumers, these platforms are still in the early growth stage among consumers: Foursquare has the highest awareness (16%), followed by Yelp (10%) and Gowalla (6%).

Shop.org members can download a free copy. Non-members may purchase the report for $995. Learn more.

About the survey
The 2011 “Social Commerce Study” provides a unique look into the behaviors and attitudes of consumers regarding social media. The study covers consumer shopping activity and engagement via Facebook, Twitter, customer reviews on websites, group-buying sites and location-based social platforms. Over 1700 consumers participated in the survey which was conducted in April 2011 by comScore, Inc. The survey participants were selected to ensure that results were representative of the demographics of the U.S. online adult consumer. Results were weighted to accurately reflect U.S. demographics.

comScore, Inc.  (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. www.comscore.com/companyinfo

Social Shopping Labs provides ecommerce and social commerce consulting services, assisting retailers with strategy, initiative planning and software solution selection. The company is based out of Kirkland, Washington.  www.socialshoppinglabs.com

Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation, is the world’s leading membership community for digital retail. Founded in 1996, Shop.org’s 600 members include the 10 largest retailers in the U.S. and more than 60 percent of the Internet Retailer Top 100 E-Retailers. It’s where the best retail minds come together to gain the insight, knowledge and intelligence to make smarter, more informed decisions in the evolving world of the Internet and multichannel retailing. Shop.org programs and activities include benchmarking research, events and networking communities.

About LiveJournal

This article highlights the popularity of Live Journal in Singapore in particular, and acknowledges how the software is used in large numbers for blogshops.

Although Blogspot is the number one platform for blogshops, Live Journal is the choice for prople who want to differentiate.

From: http://www.penn-olson.com/2011/06/08/tickled-live-journal/

Singaporean Company Tickled to Represent LiveJournal in Asia

 

 

by Rick Martin on June 8, 2011 in Asia, Business

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Many of you probably remember LiveJournal as one of those early platforms where you first experimented with that strange new thing called of ‘blogging.’ Back in 2007 the Six Apart subsequently sold the company to Russian media organization SUP, its current owners.

Since then the service has evolved, as it describes itself as transitioning “from a journaling network into a vibrant, community-driven destination site.” It’s also transitioning geographically as well, now making inroads into Singapore, India, and South East Asia.

That brings us to today’s news that LiveJournal will be launching South-East Asian country portals, and has enlisted Singapore’s Tickled Media to represent it in the region. SUP’s CEO Annelies Van Den Belt explained the move in a statement:

Social media in Asia is experiencing tremendous growth and LiveJournal sees it as its next big market. Partnering with Tickled Media with their local online expertise and strong advertiser relationships offers LiveJournal the ideal platform to expand our presence and have a competitive edge in the region.

LiveJournal claims to attract over a million uniques in Singapore every month, which makes it the site’s fifth largest audience. Tickled Media tells us that the Philippines also represents the next largest number of viewers at 350,000 per month, while Indonesia is third at 200,000.

Tickled’s representative explained further that South East Asian nations primarily use LiveJournal for blogging, and users are distributed about evenly among males and females. That’s not the case in Singapore, however, where “it is predominantly used by females – aged between 16-30 to blog about fashion or run blogshops, sprees and online fleas.”

It remains to be seen whether LiveJournal can enjoy long-term success in Singapore and the rest of South East Asia, but it will be interesting to see how it adapts to suit regional markets.

Interview with a Singaporean teen blogshop owner

Blogshops in Singapore that are owned by teen share many of the same features as their adult own counterparts.  However, there are some interesting differences which are captured very well here.

1.  A lot of them are garage sale outlets to clear the owners' old clothes.

2.  The owner is trying to get rid of her old things so she can earn money to buy more of the things she like.

3. The main issues are hassles with customers (teens) who ask too many questions, who are late to meet ups, and who rip off their pictures, etc.

4. Many of them tend to be temporal; they close many times, and many move to new URLs.
 This means these blogshops are highly DISPOSABLE.

This interview was taken from: https://ctkathy.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/being-an-entrepreneur-interview-with-a-teenage-blogshop-owner/

Being An Entrepreneur: Interview With A Teenage Blogshop Owner

Posted on 07/06/2011 by ctkathy

I interviewed a teenage blogshop owner, Rin Mitsuki, 17. The aim is to promote entrepreneurship among teenagers.


What is your blogshop name and what are you selling?
My blogshop is: http://303roses.blogspot.com
I sell second- hand clothes that are bought and worn once or twice, or not worn before.

Why did you start a blogshop?
I want to get rid of my stuff, out-dated clothes to earn extra income to have money to buy more new stuff.

How long do you have a blogshop?
I opened a blogshop since I was in Secondary 3 and has been changing blogshop ever since.

How do advertise your blogshop?
It is sort of automatic as there are these tags where links of blogshops are gathered for people to see.

What are the challenges that you face?
Well, some customers ask a lot of questions but in the end they did not buy anything.
Some blogshop owners will ‘steal’ pictures of the items that you took on your own from the blogshop and put it at their own blogshop.
It is also difficult to sell sometimes because there are cheaper prices that are offered elsewhere.

How do you overcome these challenges?
I would confront those who took my pictures without permission and leave it to settle. I will also imprint my blogshop name vividly on my pictures so that no one can take it anymore.
In terms of pricing, I did not change the prices of my items despite of the lack of customers as I feel that my prices are reasonable enough.

How much capital do you require to start the blogshop?
Erm…I need none at all.

How much do you earn?
For now, I am Missing In Action (MIA). However, I earned around $100-$200 at least ever since I started with blogshops.

What are you planning to do in the future?     
I will merge with a friend to re-create another blogshop in June and we will sell our clothes which are not worn before. Either selling at a cheap price, maybe $10, or do trades. People can trade their stuff with ours as long as it is reasonable.