SocialCommerce : How can business use/integrate social commerce as part of their e-commerce - Research Paper Example

SOCIAL COMMERCE (As part of e-commerce) of (affiliation) SOCIAL COMMERCE The advent of the Internet has altered how people lead their lives, from banking to doing shopping, finding friends on social networks, getting the news, looking for information or data in doing some research, or getting entertainment. The Internet has become a part of everyday life; it is hard to imagine today how life would be without an Internet connection. From its origins in its being solely intended for communications, it has morphed or evolved into so many applications.

Before, big companies were reluctant to put up Web sites for their products and services, but in a new paradigm shift, firms today would be left out if they do not have a digital presence. It is now imperative for any business organization to have a digital presence to augment its customer base. Electronic commerce is now accepted as a convenient, easy, and safe mode of shopping. The Internet boom in electronic commerce (or e -commerce) was almost stillborn due to the collapse of so many Internet start-ups a few decades earlier because of the wrong business model.

However, e-commerce got a new lease on life with the innovation of secure socket layers (SSL) which made financial transactions on-line more secure and reliable. Furthermore, the continued popularity of mobile devices made Internet shopping more accessible to a greater number of consumers who previously were reluctant to shop or buy on-line. New technological innovations such as Web 2.0 and faster Internet speeds enhanced the attraction of e-commerce.Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter made people more conducive to have an on-line presence too.

A fairly-recent innovation is the new concept of using social media sites to further enhance the attractiveness of many on-line offers; this is called as social commerce. It is merely an adaptation of social networking ideas to the needs of electronic commerce. Put simply, social commerce is advertising on the Web but with a new twist. This is the participation of buyers in their shopping experience, before and after buying a product or service. Social commerce is now the new trend in e-commerce because it allows sellers to get involved in many ways with their customers through advertorials (advertising editorials) or infomercials (informative and interactive commercial advertising by which customers can call by telephones).

Social commerce should be made an integral part of e-commerce because its presents two kinds of opportunities for the seller: help people shop smarter by giving them the information to make better informed buying decisions, and secondly, help people choose what to buy in view of many competing products or services (Blodget, 2013, p. 1); social commerce promotes client loyalty. Web business experts predict some $30 billion worth of products will be bought through the Internet annually by the year 2015, with half of it through social media (Murphy, 2012, p. 1). There are many good reasons why this is happening, among which are the consumers have good ways to let a company know of their shopping experience, product usage, give feedback, to let a fellow potential buyer know what they think of the product, encourages social interaction among buyers on the Internet, give trusted advice, and allow any users to give their opinions and ideas to other users, much like the user-generated content in the new advertising format of using word-of-mouth referrals to generate new revenues (Marsden, 2010, p. 41) by building the brand name.

An example of social commerce sites in my own personal experience is that of giant Nestle, which I go to for updates in consumer information about new product offerings. This site helps me in terms of the 4Rs; which are reviews, ratings, recommendations, and referrals. Nestle was a pioneer in using social commerce as a way to engage with customers (Nestle, 2011, p. 1). ReferencesBlodget, H. (2013, February 07). “Future of social commerce: The two big opportunities in social commerce.” Retrieved February 22, 2013 from http://socialcommercetoday.

com/the-two-opportunities-in-social-commerce-presentation/ Marsden, P. (2010). Social commerce: Monetizing social media. Norderstedt, Germany: GRIN Verlag.Murphy, S. (2012, November 02). “50% of Web sales to occur via social media by 2015.” Retrieved February 21, 2013 from http://mashable.com/category/social-commerce/ Nestle (2011, September 01). “Good food. Good life: Nestle pilots social commerce with new interactive site for German consumers.” Retrieved February 23, 2013 from http://www.nestle.com/Media/NewsAndFeatures/Pages/Nestle-pilots-social-commerce-with-new-interactive-site-for-German-consumers.aspx