Digital CPG Blog

Forrester tried to claim last week that Facebook will not drive e-commerce.

Uh… have they been awake lately?

Lucky for Facebook, they were able to show exactly how the site is driving commerce earlier this month. After all, where there is community, there is commerce.  Simple as that.

Facebook has long promoted the value of such social ads, saying that word of mouth from friends is more valuable for users and marketers alike than generic marketing messages. The company now says that, similarly, e-commerce sites are increasingly benefiting from tying their services into the Facebook platform. In other words, Facebook says a purchase shared on Facebook generates more purchases from friends.

“We now have a direct link between sharing on Facebook and revenue generation at e-commerce sites,” said Dan Rose, vice president of partnerships and platform marketing at Facebook. Mr. Rose said that 18 of the top 25 e-commerce sites are using Facebook features like Facebook Connect or the “Like” button. Giantnerd.com, a shopping site for outdoor gear, saw a doubling in revenue generate from Facebook within two weeks of adding the Like button, Facebook said. American Eagle saw users referred by Facebook spend 57 percent more than average on the site, Facebook said.

Nothing like some hard numbers showing your relevance and dominance to prove the naysayers wrong.