Definitions of Social Commerce: From Customers to Friends…?

Like many industries starting off, social commerce lacks a clear definition. There are many different terms that exist used to define this concept as Paul Marsden illustrates in his blog SocialCommerceToday.


Between 2005 and 2007 he collected 17 definitions and had the excellent idea of copying them all down in Wordle in order to see the many terms linked to this industry.  Here is the result:

In doing this, Paul Marsden was able to come up with his own definition (18):
“Social commerce: A subset of electronic commerce that employs collaborative social media tools to assist in online purchasing and selling”.


Definitions definitely vary depending on whether one is a retailer or a “shopper”; or whether or not the application point is an individual consumer or a friend in a social network.


By mapping these points of view on symmetrical axes we get a graph of 18 terms, now 19 including the one that I propose for SherPad, which emphasizes the word of mouth strategy, conversations between friends, and social networks.


(19)“Social Commerce rises through trusted advice in conversations and word-of-mouth among your friends and relations in social networks, blogs, and communities, helping to make shopping decisions and transactions”.

For each definition, the four most relevant key words were kept.  There is a certain tendency to see the most recent definitions show at the top, combine the issue of social networks, links between friends, and favor the “shopper’s” point of view.


However, this is not irreversible, as the definitions of IBM and Paul Marsden, which are situated in the lower part, state:


IBM: “Social commerce:  Connect and foster active participation with customers to help improve your customer experience…including ratings and reviews, blogs and micro-blogging, as well as forums and communities”.


There is a difference, or maybe even an opposition, between the definition given by Bazaarvoice, the societal leader in consumer review, and the one of Paul Dunay.

Bazaarvoice:
“Social commerce: Strategy of connecting customers to customers online and leveraging those connections for commercial purpose”.


Paul Dunay:
“Social commerce: Working with or using your social graph, which is defined as your followers or your friends, and allowing them to help you make buying decisions”.

Will social commerce continue to develop along these two different points of view or will they merge together?

Golf, Fans, and Brands, the Golfsmith case

The growing popularity of Facebook fan pages or their equivalent on Twitter indicates a major change in E-marketing and the direction it is taking.

No longer is it enough to give consumers the floor on Internet sites, which, in reality, few sites do. From now on it is necessary to start multiple conversations with fan pages on Facebook and followers on Twitter.

With 7000 fans on Facebook and 1200 followers on Twitter, Golfsmith, a producer and distributor of golf equipment, has a notable and innovative presence on social networks, yet remains average.

Eric Mahlstadt, Senior Online Store Manager, talks of his business strategy in relation to social networks.

“The value right now to us as a retailer is not as much about what kind of people these are, but what kinds of experiences they’re having.  We’re interested in providing as many choices and platforms as possible for our customers to share thoughts and ideas and provide input.  The struggle then becomes having enough engaged ears to hear all the feedback and to be nimble enough to act on that feedback” 

Golfsmith already has an open website where comments are welcome and the home page strongly encourages users to leave feedback.

In order to link user feedback on its site and those from fan pages on Facebook or followers on Twitter, Golfsmith chose a social marketing solution proposed by Bazaarvoice, a specialist in “community management”, called Social Network Accelerators.

How does it work?

 

“With the new Social Network Accelerators, Bazaarvoice ensures that companies achieve more from social commerce by using social networks like Facebook and Twitter as a distribution channel for user-generated content created on brand sites.”