Monday, June 6, 2011

NRF Finds Willingness to Use Social Commerce

shop.org social commerce studyThe National Retail Federation reports that people are more willing to dabble in social commerce than many retailers realize, with 42 percent of those who shop online saying they at least occasionally "follow" a store on social media. More than 56 percent of Facebook users have clicked through to a retail site, while 67 percent of Twitter users have done so.

Perhaps the biggest finding is that these consumers are open to skipping brand sites entirely, with 35 percent saying they would be willing to make a purchase directly from Facebook, and 32 percent right from Twitter. Those findings obviously run counter to some sentiment that people on Facebook are in a socializing mood, not a shopping mood.

But other studies do suggest that social shopping is something users will do. Shoppers are willing to interact with retailers through a variety of social networks and retailers have limitless opportunities to capitalize on the momentum, according to the 2011 Social Commerce Study, a joint research project by Shop.org, comScore and Social Shopping Labs. The report, which evaluates shopping directly influenced by social media, polled 1787 adult online shoppers in April 2011. See New_study_evaluates_consumer_behaviors_attitudes_toward_social_commerce_.php.

According to the Shop.org survey, 42 percent of online consumers have "followed" a retailer proactively through Facebook, Twitter or a retailer's blog, and the average person follows about six retailers. While shoppers' reasoning for following a retailer varies, the majority of respondents (58 percent) said they follow companies to find deals, while nearly half (49 percent) say they want to keep up to date on products. More than one-third also follow retailers for information on contests and events (39 percent).

The NRF study, based on more than 1,700 online shoppers, found that those online shoppers who track retailers typically follow six stores, whether through Facebook, Twitter or a retailer's blog.

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