Relationship commerce, the combination of social media and e-commerce, is the latest and greatest burgeoning e-commerce trend. And if you don't think social media is taking over selling efforts, look at this recent study:
-82% of the Fortune 100 tweet
-68% of the Fortune 100 youtube
-59% of the Fortune 100 facebook
-36% of the Fortune 100 blog
In this second article, we'll discuss the solution providers who are bringing retailers into the relationship commerce realm - and why they will grow very quickly.
We'll start with case studies. One company at the front of the trend is Shopigniter. This company is trying to bring human interaction into the e-commerce process via social media tools and tying the online process with the off-line, real world retail experience. ShopIgniter landed $3 million in its first institutional venture capital financing round just last March.
Shopigniter's platform is slick. Check out their video tour. They offer a full e-commerce platform (e.g. storefront, checkout) and a seamless integration into Facebook. I've never seen a more seamless Facebook integration. The consumer can purchase a product in Facebook, and it looks exactly the same as the store website.
It will be interesting to watch Shopigniter compete against the likes of ATG and Demandware, but my guess is that they'll find their niche with the right retailers.
More and more platforms (and maybe even ATG and Demandware) will begin to offer social media plug-ins like Shopigniter's. You heard it first here on the Stroop. In three years, this will become an essential feature for e-commerce platforms to offer to retailers. What is more, start-up firms who can offer this as a platform-agnostic plug-in will have dramatic success. Look for VC funding going to these types of firms. They're obvious future acquisitions candidates for bigger platforms, after they've proven their model.
Lastly, I find it necessary to mention OpenSky and Flattr. We'll start with OpenSky. OpenSky is another prime example of monetizing social media - in the case, it's all about blogs. The OpenSky platform enables bloggers, media personalities and trusted experts to sell unique products they love without worrying about the backend. OpenSky just raised $6M in VC funding in April. Novel idea.
Flattr is similar to OpenSky in principle, but is different in its functionality. In Flattr's case, the name of the game is social micropayments (which could be an entire blog post in itself). Check it out. Flattr is another way for social-media-content-creators to realize revenue. I've signed up for a flattr account and will provide a report on it later this Fall.
In sum, the signs are there. Relationship commerce is growing and will become mainstream in the near-term. Solution providers that enable retailers to capitalize on this trend will grow very quickly.
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