As the CEO of an e-commerce business with over 2,000 shops on Facebook, I have a unique perspective on Facebook selling. After two years of testing, my company sees fewer sales from our global Facebook presence than from orders originating in New Zealand, where we don’t have a marketing or sales presence, or a country-specific website. Quite frankly, Facebook has been underwhelming for sales generation.

Facebook, in its current form, is not the answer that e-commerce is hoping for.  Consumers visit Facebook for social reasons and do not want their social time interrupted with companies trying to sell to them. It would be taboo in most social settings or would you tolerate a business trying to sell to you while you’re enjoying a nice pint with friends in a bar? Read more »

With the rise of the internet and now social networks, there’s been a fundamental shift in the way we communicate, buy and work. This is not a fad that is going away, the internet is now increasingly central to our lives and social media represents 20% of our internet time.

For brands, social media is no longer optional, as customers are asking for it, competitors are using it and it is an important service that provides relationship building opportunities. I’ve been thinking lately about what Engagement 3.0 means; to me it is about brands giving their online interactions an offline element. It is about an evolution in the way that we engage, not necessarily about making money.  Read more »

Facebook-commerce expectations are out of sync with most brands and the market’s capabilities.  This leads to controversial debate where some commentators see enormous growth opportunities others see huge effort for no return.

In fact, the problem is in the evolution of communication within the medium shops on Facebook only work as part of a social media strategy.

Most brands or organisations are not sufficiently evolved in their social communication to make them work and most consumers have experienced enough good communication to expect to find easy-to-use f-commerce on Facebook. Read more »