Plans by two of the world's most popular social networks to introduce direct sales via "buy" buttons could spark a new wave of e-commerce, dubbed social commerce or social shopping, starting this holiday season.
AFT reported over the weekend that both Facebook and Twitter were looking to play a much bigger role in shopping via social commerce in the near future - a move research firm Invest predicts could yield significant proportions by next year.
Social commerce originating from referrals from social networks, says Invest, is expected to hit $15 billion by 2015.
AFP cites Opus Research analyst Greg Sterling as saying the move towards social commerce is a smart thing for the likes of Facebook and Twitter, which have user volumes on their side.
He cautions, however, that marketers would need a clear, well thought out strategy to turn buy buttons into actual purchases. "Just putting a 'buy' button out there is not going to be effective, unless it is targeted in the right way. The challenge is building enough context around that 'buy' button."
Sterling suggested buy buttons - combined with research on users' browsing habits - could be the best route to take, says the global news site. This, however, may not go down as kosher in many Facebook users' books, given that many feel the behaviour constitutes a major personal privacy breach.
Facebook was the first of the two social media giants to start testing social shopping, in mid-July. The idea is that Facebook users - on desktop or mobile - can click the "buy" call-to-action button on ads and posts to purchase a product directly from a business, without leaving Facebook. At the time, Facebook said the feature had been built with privacy in mind, and steps were taken to make the payment experience safe and secure.
Just shy of two months later, Twitter started testing its own social shopping service, via a number of "test partners" - including (among others) brands like Burberry and Red, and music icons like Eminem, Keith Urban, Panic at the Disco, Wiz Khalifa and Megadeth.
At the time, Twitter said an entire purchase could be completed "in just a few taps". To use the service, a user needs to tap the buy button to get additional product details. They are then prompted to enter shipping and payment information and, once the requisite information is confirmed, order information is sent to the relevant merchant for delivery.
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