F-Commerce

I just read the post on the failure of F-commerce. There is an interesting statement in the write up by Sucharita Mulpuru,  a Forrester Research analyst in Cambridge,Massachusetts. She says “But it was like trying to sell stuff to people while they’re hanging out with their friends at the bar.” So very true! Imagine yourself  sitting with a friend and happily chatting and having a nice cup of tea while a flock of salesmen whirling around you and constantly telling you something about the product! Your natural reaction will be to push them away and probably you would even start looking down on the brands being sold! 

May be its just not the right approach or the right product for that moment. But that does not mean that there is no way to do it. Back in Erlangen, I used to visit an Italian restaurant with my wife and son (3 at that time). Within minutes my wife would be cursing me for coming to the restaurant with him and within minutes of that would come and angel selling Roses! 5 Euros for 1 rose!!! He milked me, but I used to thank him then. In eCommerce world this would have been a "You may also like"   recommendation or "People who Fought here also bought" kind of recommendations :) But the point is he did manage to sell his roses at a place where nothing would sell! I wouldn't dream of buying a Nintendo there! Not saying facebook should be analysing every conversation or post ( or may be it already doing it! )               

So the first question is; Has facebook now become a place where people are interested in buying products? Not completely sure. In May 2011 Gigacom reported a survey by Booz & Co. indicating only 27% showing interest in buying on facebook and rest 73% straight away said NO. So what has changed between then and now in 8 months? Only the number of users from far eastern countries where online buying is any ways not working! And the number of users in the west decreased. I bet some of those 27% who wanted to shop on facebook went shopping down town or on other websites  ! :)

The next question is: Even with 27% potential consumers, are the companies doing the right thing to make them spend? 27% of a billion is still a staggering 270 million! The article which I read was about Gamestop shutting down its shop in facebook. That to me was sad. If a gaming company cannot engage people in a social way, who can? I remember my friends playing Mafia and post all sorts of message on their wall.  that was the game that interested them and was free and they could play together. But have you seen the free games available from Gamestop. "Willam and his Journal" Collect points by jumping on mushrooms! Take it down please! 

May be it is not a place where you should try to sell actively. May be its just better to leave it as a marketing platform for companies and generate leads and do the selling on your site.  Nuts are hard until you crack the first one. Rest becomes part of history!


-AV