Can F-commerce Change The Face of Retail?

There’s been a lot of chatter about how Facebook has an opportunity to change the face of retail. With 1 in every 6 seconds on the Internet spent on Facebook, selling your goods where everyone is hanging out should be a no-brainer right?

And so there’s been bunch of ways you can set up a page or use third-party app to set up your Facebook storefront. Shoppers can check out your wares and pay directly for items via PayPal without ever leaving Facebook.

But it turns out that 89% of people have never bought via Facebook and 44% have no interest in doing so. The truth seems to be that not too many people actually go on Facebook with the goal of buying something online. They just want to hang out with their friends. There’s also the inevitable question of privacy on the platform with 75% of users still being bothered by it.

So if you’re wondering if there’s anything from the marriage of Facebook and commerce, or F-commerce, that you can leverage, all is not lost. The trick is not to bring your store to Facebook but bring Facebook to your store. You want to get your existing customers to spread the word about your store to their friends. And with over 800 million active users, it just happens that Facebook is where you customers are hanging out with their friends. So how to spread the word? Here are a couple of ideas.

Location check-ins via Facebook and other sites like Foursquare allow you to add a social dimension when customers come to your store. You can get the number of check-ins to go up by giving rewards to those who happen to drop by. Last year, popular brand Gap had a promo wherein a shopper could go home with a brand new pair of jeans just by checking in to one of the Gap stores.

Image Source: Gap Free Jeans Giveaway Event

Since check-ins appear as updates on the user’s wall, they act as virtual shout-outs to his or her connections about the brand.

You can even add Facebook Places and Facebook Deals into the mix. This past Valentine’s day, Debenhams gave treats to their “social shoppers”. The first 10 people who checked-in at a Debenham’s boutique got special packages, and the first 1000 got free cosmetics.

Probably one of the most creative in-store executions to date is Macy’s “magic” 72-inch touchscreen mirror. The magic mirror allows customers to virtually fit dresses by super-imposing apparel onto their reflections. Augmented reality meets social media as the experience can be shared on Facebook, giving customers the option to ask friends if the outfits suit them before making the purchase.

So the jury is still out on whether there’s a payoff in setting up a storefront on your Facebook page. But there are a good many ways that Facebook can help you get the word out about your store to your customers’ friends. And with many brands already using Facebook as a way to get closer to their audience, there are a lot of places to look for inspiration. All it takes is a little guts and creativity, and you’re ready to take the plunge.