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Forrester says Facebook commerce won’t take off

April 11, 2011 |

While Facebook provides a highly effective advertising platform, commerce on the social network might not take off, according to a report by Forrester Research. According to the report, email has better customer acquisition rates than social networking.

Some of the highlights of the report:

- There are retailers (albeit small ones) seeing a double-digit percent of their sales coming through their Facebook stores. These companies often have unique demographics or marketing models (e.g., flash sales) that drive this behavior.

- Facebook’s “data layer” is probably one of the most underleveraged assets that exists with respect to F-commerce. There is myriad information about fans, what products consumers are liking, and competitive insights that can be gleaned from merchant and consumer activity on and off Facebook.

- Facebook credits is a non-starter for most retailers. This is the “currency” that consumers can use to buy, say, potatoes on Farmville. Facebook, however, has little to no credibility with respect to financial services among consumers, and the same retailers reluctant to implement PayPal (which so many large merchants are) will be 10 times more resistant to a less-tried, less-reliable, newer payment mark.

Get the full story at Forrester, and All Facebook

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