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Those who say social network in turn say, (or will say), social commerce since conversation and commerce are interlinked, even if there exist many different types of commerce.
Can Twitter, the quintessential conversation platform, also become a commerce platform?
TwitPay, launched in November 2008 as a payment solution between Twitter users, is betting on it.
TwitPay presents itself as a way to transfer money from one user to another. Its strength is its simplicity. All you need is a Twitter account and…….a PayPal account, because the second asset of TwitPay is that it works with PayPal and, therefore, benefits from its user base, its security, and its credibility.
To make a payment simply send a tweet.
Nevertheless TwitPay has not shown huge growth and only has a few more than 5100 followers, (you must follow TwitPay to have an account).
The main reason is that TwitPay can currently only carry out hypothetical transactions between Twitter users, since there is no organized supply market currently on Twitter.
Also, your account risks looking like this:
However, let’s take the gamble that commerce will develop on Twitter and that TwitPay, which takes, in addition to the PayPal commission, only 5 cents (1 nickel) on all transactions less than $1, will find its place, if it lasts until then.
While waiting, here is the “tweetflow” of TwitPay happening simultaneously as I’m writing.
Form teams with Twangu?
Speaking of social commerce, here is a new Facebook application that is 100% "team commerce".
Only a few weeks old, Twangu wants to initiate this wave of social commerce predicted to be massive within the next several months or years.
How does Twangu work? Facebook users are invited to form "teams" that want to purchase items for a fixed price by the users themselves.
Once these groups are formed Twangu intervenes and places each team with a vendor of the product wanted, provided the seller agrees to purchase conditions of the team, notably on the price proposed for the item.
Items are usually purchased through PayPal and Twangu takes great care to guarantee that the transactions do no take place on Facebook itself, but on a secured site. Obviously the idea of giving out your credit card number several days before buying the item creates a considerable problem, but Twangu is hoping that the possibility of getting your hands on something for a cheaper price will entice users to overcome their fears…..
And what kinds of teams are formed using Twangu?
Here is a sneak peak….
Ipod Touch 32GO for $100; PS3 games (without precision) for $30; jeans for $25; Wii Rockband 2 for $50; Windows7 for $49.95; Iphone 3G's at $199; "Future beach" kayaks for $199; Skullcandy helmets for $21.50 etc….while scrolling through red shoes, red dresses and red accessories for $1.
It is still too soon to tell whether this intermediary business model and the idea of the "group discount" implemented by Twangu will work! Let's bet that other projects are in the works and is owed to the innovation of Twangu.
Social commerce and the "discount group" are, in any case, signed on in the context of the current recession.
The prestigious Wall Street Journal, in its Smart Money column, published an article in January entitled "How to Score Group Discounts With Strangers".
Shweta Oza, a Marketing professor at the University of Miami states in this article:
"Businesses worried about slumping sales and continued cutbacks in consumer spending are more amenable to offering group discounts. You're enticing them by bringing them in more business, which they're hunting for in today's economy".
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