Friday, 23 September 2011

e! m! F!

There seems to have been a big big big big big discussion going on about Facebook & Google+ in the past few days, especially after Facebook has modified and upgraded its NEW LOOKS! And in the same time, many of our classmates has blogged about Facebook vs. G+. Many of us like it, dislike it, or are still getting used to the new looks and new functions, however did you realized that we are moving into.....

"F-Commerce"!?!?!?!

In the past years online businesses are done normally through E-Commerce, doing business through websites or over the internet. Consumers are able to purchase through websites and pay through different payment methods such as Paypal or Credit cards. The use of mobile devices has also increases, where M-Commerce was introduced, where consumer are able to purchase through connected mobile devices.

NOW! With the rise of Social Media, F-Commerce or Facebook Commerce has emerged! Businesses are utilizing and exploiting Facebook as a business platform, yet in the same time a marketing tool to increase engagement and awareness. 



An article from The Age: Look Out Here Comes F-Commerce mentions about how businesses today are selling directly through Facebook to its target market. Several examples such as JC Penny, Petco, and Gilt are given to illustrate usage of F-Commerce. However, The Age also mentions that for Facebook to be widely accepted as a selling platform, it depends on the purchasing experience through Facebook, and most importantly the overcoming with different Noises in Facebook such as personal "News Feed". Therefore, not many companies and brands are doing this, but instead using Facebook as what we learnt as a promotional tool.

I do think that more and more businesses have exploited E-Commerce, M-Commerce, and will definitely move to F-Commerce very very soon. Like what we discusses in class, Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Payvment has already been highly accepted. Therefore, if more and more businesses are trying to sell over Facebook, Facebook may come up with new platforms to fit the companies needs, bringing a new era of Online commerce to consumers around the world.

Do you think we are striving to F-Commerce soon?
What do you think?
Let me know! Down Below :D

Source: The Age
Posted by at

6 comments:

  1. Kate23 September 2011 at 20:42

    Its all very interesting how its evolving as one of the main strategies behind Facebook for business use is to engage with your audience... and this is NOT done though selling. It would appear that this is slowly but surely changing... which I think is sad. Facebook users have always come online to use Facebook for social reasons, not to feel the pressure selling may elicit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chun23 September 2011 at 22:59

    Thanx for you comment Kate, I totally agree on your comments about how online users are on Facebook for social purposes, however, it is much like any platforms that existed Hi5, MySpace, even Blogger, has given companies abilities to advertise and increase sales through online channels. So i guess it may be the only way to increase revenue to further support the social media platforms.

    But does it matter? since many brands in the market also uses Facebook as a springboard to lead people into purchase in their E-commerce store, why not just do it on F-Commerce after all?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mike23 September 2011 at 23:23

    It is an interesting topic to watch the social media platform evolve into a legitimate marketing channel. Did Alexander Graham Bell think that when he invented the phone that it would be used for more than talking? http://fi.edu/franklin/inventor/bell.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. rossouwe28 September 2011 at 03:41

    Great work, @Kate, its sad, so come on, move to G+! If you trace this back to any marketing, long before the days of SM, you will find that every single social setting has become some sort of marketing tool, be it sponsorship of events, special beer displays in pubs. It is all over, commerce will never go anywhere, we have to get used to it, but the advantage of SM is that the commerce we deal with, is actually targeted to what we like!
    Ross

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wags1 October 2011 at 04:22

    Thanks Chun - a good post.

    I'm not sure if I'd trust Facebook as a channel to buy products? It doesn't seem to carry the same air of credibility as a site such as eBay, or a well-known brand's own website. Maybe it's some of the suspiciously-shonky ads that appear on Facebook?

    Also, are retailers likely to want to share their revenue with Mark Zuckerberg, which is sure to happen if we see f-commerce in the near future?

    Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wags1 October 2011 at 04:23

    @Ross: Are you being paid some sort of referral commission from Google?

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)