Everyone is calling Facebook deals a Groupon killer, but we won’t have a real read on whether Facebook is a serious competitor in terms of group-buying for months.
Meanwhile, analysts are still split on whether Facebook-enabled commerce will really evolve into a major source of revenue for retailers (or Facebook itself).
Forrester Research, for example, says it’s not going to happen this year. Others (like us), say social commerce is already happening!
With that in mind, SocialTimes Pro dug into the current marketplace and found that Facebook’s potential social commerce revenues come from three main business models:
- Build a robust community, and then introduce currency and commerce.
- Help established retailers be more “social” with ads, authentication/identity and sharing tools.
- Reach shoppers with local-mobile-social content and commerce.
Our research also found companies like Bazaarvoice and Janrain that have similar business models (and have a real competitive advantage over Facebook for now). We also discovered some companies like Moxsie and deviantART that are innovating with social commerce in ways that Facebook isn’t (or just can’t)
Find out the details in “Social Commerce: How Facebook Stacks Up Against the (Current) Competition,” this month’s report from our premium research service, Social Times Pro.
Source: All Facebook
Thursday, April 28, 2011