Social Commerce:Business Empowered with Social Media

Social CommerceBusiness Empowered with Social Media

from

Customers and Companies Perspectives

Presented by

Praveen K PanjiarFor

WITS ZEN.COMA Blog for Web, Internet, Technology and Social Intelligence

Social Commerce: Business Empowered with Social Media

“Social commerce is a subset 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.” --Wikipedia

Social Commerce is the Collaborative Intersection of Business Needs and Customer Desires.

Social Commerce supports social interaction, capitalizing the power of Collective Intelligence of millions of online users.

Collective Intelligence of users to help each other making Better Purchase Decisions.

Collective Intelligence +Better Purchase Decisions= Social Shopping/community based shopping

Social Commerce: Concept

Succinctly, social commerce helps in:

Engaging customers with brands/products/services

Buying and selling of products and services

Making customers better-informed shoppers

Acquiring more sales leads for online retailers

Social Shopping/Community Based Shopping creates an environment where users play a key role, helping people make their purchase decisions.

Social Shopping sites offer new ways for Consumers to make their better purchasing decisions

Social Shopping sites provide new opportunities for retailers to reach their customers

Social Commerce: Value Proposition



Social Shopping Trends: India

40 million Indians are using online reviews to inform purchase decisions, according to Nielsen study.

30 million Indians who are online being members of social networking sites and about two-thirds of them spend time on these social networking sites daily.

According to Nielsen study, 67 percent of the respondents use online reviews to help them make purchases

The research indicates that increasingly, Indians also want brands to communicate with them using social media with 60 percent of Indians social media users are open to being approached by brands.

Social Commerce: Business Empowered With Social Media

Social Shopping Trends: World

Consumers are ready and willing to shop “socially”.

Consumers are following multiple retailers but this behavior is still in early stages.

Consumers want product discounts and deals but are also interested in product information.

Over half of consumers who follow a retailer say they have clicked through from a social platform to a retailer’s website, browsed products or commented.

Retailers must project their product stories on Facebook and Twitter without delay.

Mobile is both an accelerator and a transformer of social commerce behavior.

Channels are increasingly blurred to the consumer.

Consumers want access to what their friends think about products on the retailer’s site.

2011 Social Commerce Study (A Study by comScore, Inc., Social Shopping Labs and Shop.org) has come up with following findings:


Social Media Marketing Trends: RetailersIn 2011, 72% of retailers plan to spend more on marketing via social networks than in

2010... (Yet) only 29% of respondents say social marketing has helped grow their businesses. -Annual State of Online survey conducted by Forrester Research Inc. for Shop.org,2011

While 65% of retailers have a Facebook 'fan' page, only 4% have an integrated shopping function within their fan pages.-Social Shopping 2011 Study


Expectations from Social Commerce: CustomersWhat consumers online are looking for are detailed in this summary:


Leveraging Social Commerce: Business

Offer a strong value proposition to millions people who shop online

Leverage the true potential of social media and connect individuals with other shoppers or experts so that they can make much more informed shopping decisions

Ensure how customers can make much better informed decisions, compared to what they can do today.


Measures to ensure successful social commerce

To help customers get more value from their brands/products/ services

To influence the social media conversations about their brands/products/services

To market and sell more effectively

To enhance products and services based on social conversations

To develop better new products and services

To extend buyer loyalty, Identify future trends


Metrics to Evaluate Successful Social Commerce

Traction in customer engagement

Increase in positive mentioning of brands/products/services

Reduction in customer service overhead because of social media efforts

Reduced PR costs because of social media outreach

Overall increase in sales leads and revenue


Insights on social commerce in future

Purchasing decisions are based on Product Research

Social Shopping and Customer Reviews Influences the Purchase

Tighter integration between e-Commerce and Social Media sites, as well as Mobile platforms such as Tablets and Smartphones.

Increasing use of apps for scanning bar codes, scanning QR Codes , to receive points, rewards or badges.

In-store social shopping with various methods to research and save via the mobile device.


About WITS ZENA blog to bring the Web, Internet, Technology and Social innovations and innovative news to global WITS enthusiasts, practitioners, prospective customers, business partners, and investors, eventually inspiring the inventing entrepreneurs into technology venturing and entrepreneurship.

The man behind emulating the concept of information hub is Praveen Panjiar. Started off as a practitioner in media, challenged his capabilities and delved into the field of IT services, encompassing content creation to marketing communication, online marketing, social media/social commerce, web strategy, to business development.

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