SortPrice Rolls out Data on its Facebook Store Application

The rise of e-commerce on Facebook and other such social networking resources has been a well-documented trend in the industry for the better part of a year or so.  We’ve seen a steady flow of new companies and applications emerging, offering e-commerce solutions on Facebook in a variety of ways and those new entrants to the market have garnered their own fair share of coverage as well.

What’s often been missing, however, is a quantitative analysis of how those Facebook e-commerce solutions are performing for retailers.  Admittedly, tracking sales on Facebook in particular seems to be tough to do, which makes it harder to get a handle on exactly how retailers are doing on Facebook.

But shopping search engine SortPrice.com today released some data on how its Store Application for Facebook performed in 2010 that helps illustrate just how big F-commerce, as SortPrice calls it, has become.  And based on their information, the trend is living up to the hype and then some.

SortPrice has been doing the F-commerce thing longer than just about anyone else and they boast more retail partners (more than 1,400) than any other competing Facebook e-commerce solutions provider.   So we’re inclined to put a lot of stock in the company’s information.

According to the data, about 7.6 million products were posted on SortPrice-built Facebook stores in 2010, a 60 percent increase from the year before.  In total, there was nearly $3.8 billion in merchandise on those Facebook stores as well, a startling number to say the least.

But there’s one nugget really stood out to us—that 40 percent of the 1,400-plus retailers using SortPrice’s app started using it at some point last year, exemplifying just how much of a priority F-commerce became in 2010.

“Last year, retailers across the board definitely began to realize the importance of hopping on the social shopping bandwagon,” says Asaf Klibansky, SortPrice’s co-founder and CTO.

There appears to be a lot of diversity in the products SortPrice is listing on its’ Facebook stores as well.  By the end of 2010, there were approximately 53,000 different product categories represented in the listings.  Here are the top 5 categories both by product count and value in dollars, according to SortPrice:

Top Product Industry Categories (by total products)
1.Apparel (62,106)
2.Women’s Jewelry (37,429)
3.Home & Garden (33,754)
4.Gifts & Flowers (11, 618)
5.Computers (11, 580)

Top Product Industry Categories (in dollars)
1.Home & Garden ($7.966 million)
2.Computers ($5.84 million)
3.Electronics ($3.983 million)
4.Jewelry & Watches ($3.023 million)
5.Apparel ($2.846 million)

It will be interesting to see if SortPrice runs similar data this time next year to gauge just how much F-commerce grew this year.  But it’s safe to say that while F-commerce wasn’t born 2010, it certainly enjoyed a coming-out party last year.

Leave us your thoughts and comments.

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SortPrice.com Store Application for Facebook Hits the 1000-Merchant Mark

Shopping search engine SortPrice.com today announced today via a press release that it is has now built virtual stores for more than 1,000 retailers through its Merchant Store application on Facebook Platform.

SortPrice was one of the first to offer a virtual storefront for retailers on Facebook Platform when it introduced the Merchant Store application a little over a year ago.  Available as a free add-on to enhanced SortPrice.com merchants, the application lets retailers display product listings on their Facebook Pages for shoppers to browse and share, complete with photos, descriptions, and direct links to their own web sites.

“We’ve heard repeatedly from our merchants how valuable a resource this application is in expanding their reach to Facebook’s huge audience,” said Doron Simovitch, SortPrice.com co-founder and CEO.  “We’re thrilled to have hit 1,000-store milestone in a little over a year.  It indicates just how serious retailers are about expanding their e-commerce efforts to the world of social media.”

While the 1,000-plus retailers encompasses merchants of every size and scope, the application is proving to be especially helpful to many smaller and mid-sized ecommerce outlets that are using it to integrate their Facebook fan pages with their online stores to raise brand awareness and drive overall traffic.  Simovitch noted that nearly 1 out of every 4 retailers using the Merchant Store application has a “Find us on Facebook” badge or similar notification on their own website, indicating that more and more e-commerce entities are branching out into social networking.

One such merchant having great success is Equestrian Collections, which incorporated the application on its Facebook Fan page prior to the holiday shopping season by first using it to run a Wishlist contest for its followers.

“The ability to market the application both as our Facebook store and also as a Wishlist, by simply changing the tab gave us great flexibility,” said Chris Duggan, the company’s president.  “Having our SortPrice Facebook Store brought Equestrian Collections closer to our fans and helped make our 4th quarter a banner one.”

Nebraska-based apparel retailer Buckle.com is using the Merchant Store application as a key component of the company’s strategy to reach more potential customers through social media avenues.

“Our focus has always been on creating the most enjoyable shopping experience possible for our users,” said Shannon Whisler, Buckle’s social media and online marketing specialist.  “By offering exciting new interaction areas like the online store and Wishlist application on our Facebook page, we believe that a level of convenience and flexibility has been created that enhances that experience for our users on Facebook.”

Retailers are able to control the look and feel of their stores, and visitors can comment on other users’ wish lists, indicate particular items that they “like” and invite friends and family to view their wish lists or favorite products.

Click to to learn more about the Facebook Store application.

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Q & A Session on the Facebook Store Application

As we’ve covered more than a few times here at Junkie recently, there is an emerging trend combining e-commerce with the world of social networking.  Retailers are recognizing the potential that the enormous audiences of Facebook, Twitter, etc. hold and they’re looking for ways to incorporate them into their business models.

One of the first such tools offered to retailers to tap into one of those large audiences was the Facebook Merchant Store application from comparison shopping site Sortprice.com.  We’ve linked to the Merchant Store app a few times in other blogs here because it’s really a great tool and one that we think every online retailer should explore.   Recently, we interviewed Doron Simovitch, Sortprice’s CEO and co-founder, to learn a little more about the application, how it came about, and where it fits in the future of e-commerce and social networking integration.

ECJ: What prompted you to build the application and who can take advantage of it?

Simovitch:  We’re always brainstorming and testing new technology as part of our commitment to both merchants and shoppers, and this idea came about as Facebook began growing in popularity. No one else was offering retailers a chance to open a storefront right on their Facebook fan pages and we felt it would be an extremely valuable addition to any merchant’s e-commerce efforts.  Sortprice was already running an app for shoppers so this was the logical progression.

We offer the application as a free benefit to any paying Sortprice merchant.

ECJ: How does it work?  And what differentiates the app from others like it?

Simovitch:  The product listings in the merchant’s Facebook store correspond to their product listings on our actual site, which makes for a pretty easy set-up.  The merchant decides which of their products they want included in their Facebook store; they can add them all or target just a few.  We build the store initially for them with a template design and give them guidance on how to maintain it.  Facebook users will find the store under a special tab on the merchant’s fan page and they can literally shop right there in the store, with all the product listings linking back to the merchant’s own checkout pages.

There aren’t many other applications like this one out there but what really makes ours stand out from the handful of competitors is how flexible it is for the merchant.  As I said, they control the quantity of products in the store itself but we also give them full control over customizing it as they see fit, including the color scheme, logos and slogan placements, and adding their own product category images. Overall it’s a very interactive tool as well because it lets the shoppers build lists of items they like and communicate with others about their wish lists.

ECJ: What has the response been from retailers?

Simovitch:  It’s been overwhelming to say the least.  We’ve had many retailers rave not only about how easy it was to get started with the application, but also how quickly they started seeing tangible results in terms of traffic and conversion rates.  We give them all resource materials and suggestions on promoting and marketing their Facebook stores once we get them up and running and from all indications, the tips are useful because most of our merchants are building successful and interactive shopping communities on their Facebook pages.

ECJ: In your opinion, what are the benefits of retailers expanding to social networking?

Simovitch:  Quite simply, expanding now isn’t an option. It’s a necessity.  So many retailers are branching out and finding new ways to use social networking that if you’re not keeping up, you’re putting your business in peril. Not to mention that if you look at Facebook alone, that’s 350 million users that you’re ignoring if you’re not involved with the site in some way or another.

You never know what the ‘next big thing’ is going to be either so we always recommend that retailers stay on top of the tech and social networking news and keep track of new sites/tools that are coming out. If they’re free or cost-effective, you should explore using them.

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