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Contents
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 2
2. What is social commerce? ............................................................................................. 2
3. Benefits for suppliers ..................................................................................................... 2
4. Benefits for customers ................................................................................................... 4
5. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 4
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 5
1. Introduction
The benefits of social commerce in the strategic area are recognized in the field of supplier
(Lange, 2010). On the customers’ side, most of the buyers are familiar with the advantages of
the widely spread recommender systems. This paper focuses on identifying and analyzing
these and further benefits of social commerce from the viewpoint of the supplier as well as the
customer.
The start of social commerce can be found in the recommender systems. The first few e-
shops, which gave their customers the possibility to rate their products, started this still
ongoing trend. Why these recommender systems are really successful is explained in the 6
dimensions of social commerce by P. Marsden. He points out that through these systems the
Internet-shopping is getting social again (Marsden, 2010).
Also worth mentioning is the direct influence of social media on the customer. This can mainly
be realized with brand sponsored community platforms. These platforms are specified for
customers with the same interests in a market share. According to the study carried out by
iNgage Networks (Brannigan, 2010), the investments in and benefits of online community
platforms can be calculated quite easily. For new customers, the presence of highly visible and
active online communities proves that a company or a product is trendy. This can make the
difference between a casual website visitor and an actual conversion into a new customer.
Through this community platforms, the power of the existing customer can be used to sell the
company’s products. According to the Nielsen global survey (Bazaarvoice, 2010), “Word of
mouth” is the most powerful selling tool. It therefore comes as no surprise that the importance
of social media in the marketing area is growing equivalently to the use of the Internet. Owing
to the growing buying power of the “digital natives”, the social commerce trend is just at the
start.
5. Conclusion
In my opinion, the ongoing trend in social commerce is relentless. Owing to the growth of the
number of young people known as “digital natives”, the importance is rising now and in the
near future. The combination of the social networks and e-commerce is just another example
for the big global integration trend based on the development of the telecommunication
technology. Through the connection between all the data sources, an “intelligent” supplier
system can serve the customer with exactly the products they want.
I suppose that this chance will be taken by a lot of companies within the next 5 years, which
will generate a big new value for them.
The customer has to resist the temptation of buying products more than ever because the
recommendations will be getting more accurate and also faster. But on the other hand, this
accuracy might also allow to find the products needed in a shorter time.
Bibliography
Bazaarvoice. (2010). Power of Word of Mouth. Retrieved November 15, 2010, from
Bazaarvoice: http://www.bazaarvoice.com/resources/stats
Brannigan, P. (2010). Maximize the value of customers through social commerce. Retrieved
November 15, 2010, from iNgage Networks:
http://storage.pardot.com/1134/93371/Value_of_Social_Commerce.pdf
CMB. (2010). Consumers engaged via social media are more liklely to buy. Retrieved
November 12, 2010, from Chadwick Martin Bailey Blog: http://blog.cmbinfo.com/press-center-
content/bid/46920/Consumers-Engaged-Via-Social-Media-Are-More-Likely-To-Buy-
Recommend
Lange, M. (2010). Mit Social Media nachweisbar Werte schaffen: Vom Hype zum
strategischen Einsatz. t3n Nr. 20 .
Marsden, P. (2010). Social commerce definitions. Retrieved November 12, 2010, from Social
commerce today: http://socialcommercetoday.com/social-commerce-definition-word-cloud-
definitive-definition-list/
Marsden, P. (2010). The 6 dimensions of social commerce. Retrieved November 12, 2010,
from Social commerce today: http://socialcommercetoday.com/the-6-dimensions-of-social-
commerce-rated-and-reviewed/
Nielsenwire. (2009). Global Advertising: Consumers Trust Real Friends and Virtual Strangers
the Most. Retrieved November 15, 2010, from NielsenWire:
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/global-advertising-consumers-trust-real-friends-
and-virtual-strangers-the-most/
Ramsey, G. (2010). Social media marketing. Retrieved November 15, 2010, from Emarketer:
http://www.emarketer.com/blog/index.php/category/social-media-marketing/
Yi, J. (2010). The next step for eCommerce: Social Commerce Personalization. Retrieved
Nomveber 15, 2010, from Viralogy Social Commerce Blog: http://viralogy.com/blog/website-
best-practices/the-next-step-for-ecommerce-social-commerce-personalization/
Zabin, J. (2010). If You Build a Branded Online Community, Will Customers Come? Retrieved
November 15, 2010, from CRM Buyer: http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/If-You-Build-a-
Branded-Online-Community-Will-Customers-Come-
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