How Social Commerce Help Business - Essay Example

? How Social Commerce Help Business Introduction Social commerce is often considered as an emerging tool assisting businesses to execute their operations with a better communication facility. To be more specific, social commerce is regarded as a process of performing business transaction through internet technologies. In this regard, social media as well as social networking technologies are recognized to create a greater positive impact on businesses. Social commerce is further determined to possess four major elements which include business, people, technology as well as information where each of these factors are considered as highly significant in the contemporary managerial context. Social commerce is a process of utilizing social media with the intention of facilitating businesses to perform marketing, buying, selling as well as sharing of products and/or services in both online and offline market segments (Zhou, Zhang & Zimmermann, 2013). In the recent business scenario, social commerce is identified to play an important role for businesses to perform their activities in the worldwide market segments in an efficient manner. Social media including Facebook, blogs and YouTube among others are used for promotion purposes and also for executing business transactions by firms with the targeted client base with the motive of improving its overall effectiveness and competitiveness (Zhou, Zhang & Zimmermann, 2013). Emphasizing on the notion that social media technologies are recognized to be playing a significant role towards the development of businesses, the paper will intend to emphasize on the factors which are deemed to be responsible for the success of social commerce in the contemporary business era. Success of Social Commerce In the present business environment, the development of technologies and the rising notion of globalization have been observed to intensify market competition. Moreover, consumers in the worldwide market segments are observed to be driven with modern technologies. In this respect, organizations, in order to execute their business activities proficiently and competently in international market segments should adopt the tactic of social commerce. It has often been affirmed that social commerce will assist business organizations to appropriately target worldwide consumers and maintain long run association with them with the virtues of the minimized gap between customer demand shifts and organizational service deliverance. It is in this context that organizations and customers with online technologies are facilitated with the opportunity of exchanging information in relation to products and/or services in a time and cost efficient way. Moreover, the customers will also be able to acquire important information from trusted individuals about buying and selling decisions. In this context, organizations using social technologies will be able to provide consumers with enhanced shopping experiences in comparison to the organizations focusing solely on traditional approaches. Hence, social commerce also aids in developing a better relationship with consumers (Zhou, Zhang & Zimmermann, 2013). From a theoretical perspective, it can be affirmed that social commerce is a tactful blending of social networking technologies along with e-commerce. There are certain drivers which are seemed to be responsible for the development of social commerce. In this regard, the technological factors are considered to be a major factor responsible for the growth of social commerce. Moreover, the rapid progress of technology and communication sectors can also be identified to have increased the essentiality for organizations to adopt latest technologies in order to execute its business activities successfully. The government of a country is also perceived to formulate as well as implement policies and regulations with the intention of supporting technological development and Information Technology (IT) (SAGE Publications, 2005). It has often been argued in this regard that social commerce is one of the latest developments in the segment of e-commerce with the objective of associating social networking technologies with shopping. Business organizations have also adopted social networking for both online as well as offline marketing and shopping. In this respect, organizations with social networking technologies will be able to enhance and develop their business operations substantially. Furthermore, social media technologies will also assist organizations to acquire better business opportunities for growth as well as development. It has also been identified in this regard that there are numerous applications which are utilized with the intention of conducting business operations effectively through the internet medium. For example, Procter & Gamble (P&G) has improved its online distribution channels with the aim of facilitating consumers to share their experiences in relation to products and/or services offered with other consumers and the management in a more convenient manner. There are sites in relation to social shopping which include Kaboodle along with This Next which have been developed by the organization for its consumers to share their shopping experiences more conveniently (Shen & Eder, 2011). There are various reasons which are seemed to be accountable for the success of social commerce in the contemporary business era. Social commerce assists organizations in acquiring a huge number of online customers or visitors. For instance, in the modern day, organizations on their respective websites can organize social networking sites as well as other search engine facilities. These services and facilities will assist companies to attract more online customers or visitors. Moreover, social commerce will aid consumers with the opportunity of acquiring relevant information in relation to products and latest trends. The consumers will also be able to exchange information with regard to the features as well as benefits attached with the products offered through the medium of social networking technologies as aligned in the social commerce initiatives of modern organizations (Dennison, Bourdage-Braun & Chetuparambil, 2009). It is worth mentioning in this context that business organizations with the assistance of social commerce have facilitated consumers to acquire better review as well as ratings of a wide variety of products. The review as well as rating system in social networks thus can assist firms or organizations to improve its sales volume over the long run. The consumers will also be able to acquire in-depth information in relation to products and/or services offered. The social commerce has thus assisted to develop better relationship with consumers which in return have assisted towards building trust as well as loyalty among consumers for the products and/or services offered by organizations (Caspian Media, 2013). Hence, it can be comprehended that social commerce has been playing an effective role as an online marketing strategy for modern day business organizations. The development of technology as well as competitive market conditions has further initiated companies to improve their business performances taking the advantage of social technologies. Social commerce is thus determined to be an effective strategy of improving the organizational performance with respect to online marketing acting as a tactic towards preserving customer satisfaction. Role of Social Media Social commerce is recognized to comprise of various social media technologies including Facebook, Twitters, YouTube and blogs among others apart from organizational websites. Social media signifies practices and activities of people in a community with the intention of sharing information as well as opinions over the internet media technology. It is in this context that social media has been observed to grow extensively over the recent years owing to its time as well as cost convenient nature. Moreover, almost half of the users of social media are identified to be shopping through online marketing organizations which also justify the inclination of modern organizations towards incorporating social media technologies in its regular operations. To be noted, the involvement of social media with retail organizations has greatly impacted the online business environments, especially the activities concerning the supply chain initiatives. The information collected from the social media technologies thus enables business organizations to offer products and/or services in accordance with the preferences of customers. In this context, the rise of social commerce as well as social market segments tends to result in the growth of online shopping community. The websites of retailers with social plug-ins further aids customers to exchange information with their social contacts. In this regard, business organizations are today able to develop a large customer base and thereby enhance sales on a continuous but steady pace (Wang & Zhang, 2012). In today’s business context, social media plays an important role for organizations in serving its customers in an effective manner. Contextually, the inclusion of demographic barriers is seemed to be reduced due to the introduction of social media services. The social media strategy is recognized to be reliant on four pillars which include collaboration, communication, entertainment and education. These four pillars are considered as important factors for the social media strategy. In this respect, social media strategy is adopted with the notion of communicating as well as educating the customers with respect to the products and/or services offered by a company. In this similar context, collaboration signifies that with a social media strategy, a company will be able to develop a better relationship as the employees can communicate their wisdom for better development and growth of a company. The entertainment pillar further implies that the attributes as well as benefits of the offered commodity can be communicated in an entertaining manner. Notably, these four pillars attempt to assist business organizations to develop a better relationship with customers as well as to enhance their business performances significantly (Safko & Brake, 2009). There are certain ways on the basis of which social media technologies can facilitate business organizations to enhance their business performances as well as sales volume over a longer period in a sustainable manner. These factors have been discussed as follows. Developing a better Customer Relationship Social media technologies are often argued to facilitate business organizations to bind their customers in a collaborative manner. It also aids to develop a better relationship amid business organizations and the targeted customers. In this respect, business organizations are observed to gain higher ability to build trust as well as loyalty among customers. In this respect, business organizations shall be able to acquire more potential customers (IBM, 2011). Two-Way Communication The tools of social media are recognized as effective medium of communication wherein business organizations are able to provide relevant information in relation to products and/or services to be offered to the targeted consumers. Additionally, with such facilities, the consumers are able to provide feedbacks or responses with regard to products and/or services offered. Moreover, business organizations are also be able to identify the preferences as well as requirements of customers by a substantial extent (IBM, 2011). Promotional Activity Business organizations with the assistance of social media can also be facilitated with the opportunity of advertising or promoting products and/or services to worldwide customer segments. In this respect, business organizations shall be able to develop a better competitive position in the targeted market segments (IBM, 2011). In this context, it can be comprehended that business organizations with social media shall be able to improve their customer base more competitively and sustainably over other traditional organizations. Additionally, promotional activities of business organizations can also be enhanced due to the support of social media. These factors shall assist business organizations to increase their sales as well as profitability substantially. Conclusion In the present business scenario, social commerce is often recognized to be an important tool of marketing online obtaining cost as well as time effectiveness. Business organizations are seemed to adopt social media technologies with the intention of expanding their business operations to a larger market segments. Notably, there are certain factors which include technological and political factors among others, which are again observed to be accountable towards the development as well as adoption of latest technologies and IT. Social media is also recognized to be playing an important role towards the development of online marketing binding people in an effective manner. In this respect, companies shall be able to develop better relationship with customers and thus facilitate business organizations with the opportunity of performing business operations in the worldwide market segments with greater efficiency. Business organizations, with the assistance of social media, shall also be able to promote their products in an efficient manner owing to the virtues of facilitated communication channels throughout the supply chain of the organization. Through such initiatives, it has further been observed that organizations are able to acquire the responses or feedbacks from its customers and other stakeholders as included in its supply chain and accordingly provide products and/or services in order to improve its overall effectiveness. In this regard, social media is perceived to be an important technological factor for contemporary organizations to enhance its profitability margin as well as sustainability facilitated by enhanced customer relationship. References Caspian Media. (2013). The six essentials of social commerce. Retrieved from http://media.caspianpublishing.co.uk/document/2fc6a9bf53c4551c85486a965a7a5b98.pdf Dennison, G., Bourdage-Braun, S. & Chetuparambil, M. (2009). Social commerce defined. Retrieved from http://socialcommercetoday.com/documents/IBM2009.pdf IBM. (2011). From social media to social CRM. Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/midmarket/uk/en/att/pdf/social_media_Part_Executive_Report.pdf Safko, L. & Brake, D. K. (2009). The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success. United States: John Wiley & Sons. SAGE Publications. (2005). Introduction to e-commerce. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/9598_019964Ch1.pdf Shen, J. & Eder, L. (2011). An examination of factors associated with user acceptance of social shopping websites. International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction 7(1), pp. 19-36. Wang, C. & Zhang, P. (2012). The evolution of social commerce: the people, management, technology, and information dimensions. Retrieved from http://melody.syr.edu/pzhang/publications/CAIS_11_Wang_Zhang_SocialCommerce.pdf Zhou, L., Zhang, P. & Zimmermann, H. (2013). Social commerce research: an integrated view. Retrieved from http://melody.syr.edu/pzhang/publications/ECRA_13_Zhou_etal_Social_Commerce.pdf Read More