ShopSocially (http://shopsocially.com) released an infographic highlighting the tremendous growth in social commerce on online retail websites. Data released by ShopSocially shows that embedding social engagement modules on ecommerce websites has resulted in impressive gains in incremental revenue, referral traffic, and new customer acquisition. The study also found a high correlation between social sharing and SEO rank. Infographic highlights the most effective on-site and off-site social commerce strategies. Social Couponing, Product Polls and Purchase Sharing were found to be the most effective on-site social modules responsible for the following growth numbers: • 17.8% uplift in overall revenue on average • 8.5% increase in overall site traffic from word-of-mouth recommendations • 2.1X higher customer acquisition rate for visits from social referrals • 91% of e-commerce websites saw a lift in SEO rank from social sharing actions Said infographic also highlights Flash Sales with built in virality as the best off-site social commerce strategy. While attempts to create full-fledged ecommerce stores on Facebook have produced underwhelming results, time sensitive flash sales have fared well on social channels. Adding a ‘sharing gate’ to unlock the deal can help these flash sales go viral quickly. Here are the average numbers for the viral flash sales strategy: • 63% increase in sales from email campaigns with built in social virality • $17 in revenue per Facebook fan by running a viral Facebook Offers campaign Finally, the research also shows that quality matters more than quantity when it comes to Facebook fans. High quality fans are 14.7 times more engaged and convert at a 3.2 times higher rate than low quality fans. A deeper analysis shows the logical reasons behind the success of these strategies. Social interactions on ecommerce websites leverage the existing high purchase intent of users and combines it with the power of social signals. This results in higher engagement, word-of-mouth referrals and ultimately revenue. In contrast, social media browsing lacks purchase intent and therefore an element of urgency needs to be established in order to get users to pull out their wallets. Flash sales are perfect for that. “Most brands equate social commerce with their ability to generate sales on social channels. That’s just plain wrong,” said Jai Rawat, CEO of ShopSocially. “The true power of social commerce is in adding social elements in the commerce flow and not the other way around. It is criminal to send a hard-acquired visitor away to Facebook for social validation. You must use embedded social modules to keep her on the website, to convert her to a sale, and to get her to refer her friends in the process!” For more details, please contact sales@shopsocially.com

1. Impact of Social Media
on e-commerce
sales is undeniably high
this year
2012
2013
2012
2013
273% increase in social traffic compared to 2012
357% increase in sales from social traffic
compared to 2012
Powered by ShopSocially
http://ShopSocially.com
Beststrategiestoharnesstruepower
ofsocialforincreasinge-sales
Onsite
Social Couponing
Social Product Poll
Social Sharing of
Purchases
91% of e-commerce merchants
saw a lift in their SEO rank due
to social referrals
Social traffic resulted in a revenue
uplift of 17.8%
8.5% increase in traffic attributed
to social sharing of purchases
Customer acquisition rate was
2.1 times higher for visitors
acquired through social referrals
SOCIAL COMMERCE
IS GROWING
Insights from social commerce
statistics - Jan to Jun 2013
Add social interaction
modules on
e-commerce site
Offsite
Flash Sales
Facebook
Email
Flash Sales promoted
via Facebook Offers
and email campaigns
$17 revenue per fan
from flash sales on
Facebook
$17
Promote viral deals
through social media
63% average increase
in sales from email
campaigns
Quality of Facebook Fan Matters!
14.7 times higher engagement rate
for qualified fans compared to
regular visitor
3.2 times more revenue per
qualified fan compared to regular
visitor
*Qualified Fan is a Facebook fan who has demonstrated a genuine interest
in the brand and hasn’t ‘Liked’ the page only to get a deal.