What Defines Success in Social Commerce - Essay Example

? What Defines Success in Social Commerce What Defines Success in Social Commerce The recent technological advancements have led to subtle effects in modern way of living, doing business, and interacting. Indeed, the advanced technology has promoted global business through networking and has eased the manner of doing business, increased productivity, enhanced product development, and increased the market base (Oracle, 2012). This has propagated the emergence of a global economy, e-commerce, and e-business in the formulation of the modern business strategies thus promoting economic development. Ideally, the invention of internet and networking services generated integration of information and communications technology in the global market thus fostering business relationships between countries, organizations, and even individuals (Pearson Education, Inc., 2010). Indeed, since the electronic technologies are in the verge of continued advancement, we can confidently anticipate that their use in the supply chain will lead to increased e-business and globalization. However, is unfortunate that many small and medium businesses are yet to understand the significance of e-commerce and equally make no effort to engage in it (Manzoor, 2010). Actually, there is continued misunderstanding on the difference between e-business with e-commerce despite the fact that e-commerce has been in application for over 40 years since the invention of the electronic transmission of messages. Most assuredly, the advancements in internet and web-based technologies establish the clear distinction between traditional markets and modern markets, which host e-commerce. Factually, e-commerce incorporates the two-way communication between the consumer and the suppliers as well as supporting the business relations between corporations. Indeed, e-commerce involves all aspects of trade including marketing, ordering, and supply (Manzoor, 2010). More so, it also supports both physical and intangible trading as well enabling the payments for goods offered. In addition, e-commerce supports electronic provision of services such as after sales support or on-line legal advice. E-commerce uses the internet and social networking technologies to do business and is thus available everywhere and every time within an internet hub. Notably, e-commerce significantly increases the global market base as customers can access products from different locations in the world (Oracle, 2012). Furthermore, e-commerce promotes personalization in the market by enabling businesspersons to pass their messages to the target markets and target individuals in the context of purchasing and rendering payment. It is also flexible in that it allows customers to change the product or service in line with their tastes, preferences, and purchasing power. Most significantly, is the fact that e-commerce is universal in that its standards apply equally across all nations in the world. Nevertheless, there have always been challenges in defining e-commerce. However, the most acceptable definition of e-commerce refers to a wide range of online business activities for products and services across the world. Ideally, e-commerce equally refers to any electronically interaction for purposes of business (Goel, 2007). It is specifically business in the internet though a computer-mediated network and incorporates no physical interaction. Moreover, it entails the sharing of business information, using networks to conduct business, and maintaining business interactions. Notable, there is a misconception between e-commerce and e-business. However, the two are quite different in that e-business do not include commercial transaction or cross boundaries business interactions. Nevertheless, e-business and e-commerce interact where internal business systems connect with suppliers. Most assuredly, e-commerce is increasingly becoming a social commerce. Indeed, social commerce and e-commerce rely on one another. Social commerce uses electronic commerce and relies on interactions on the social networks, which enables consumers to buy and sell products via the internet. Actually, e-commerce uses online shopping tools, social site generated contents, and user ratings to enable the consumers interact with the suppliers. As such, e-commerce is seemingly becoming social commerce due to its reliance on information on the social sites (Garafola, 2013). Furthermore, e-commerce places its adverts on the social sites for marketing and thus social commerce. This builds trusts among the business stakeholders thus promoting commerce. Most specifically, the social tools in the social sites like Facebook and Twitter enables the communication between business parties, facilitated purchase of products, and crated a fair ground for different brands in e-business. Indeed, e- commerce encourages social sharing that promotes social commerce and the development of a social commerce strategy. As such, it is clear that e-commerce is increasingly becoming a social commerce subject to the application of the social tools and content generated on the social sites. Generally, we can define social commerce as a business concept applied to e-commerce orally. Indeed, social commerce relates to the interactions between the shoppers and the suppliers through social means (Marsden, 2010). Social commerce adopts various forms and uses reviews, online ratings, blogs, videos, comments, profiles, and groups in the social sites (IBM Corporation, 2009). In fact, social commerce uses various forms of social media, social media populists, and product reviews to advertise its products to the target market across the world. Ideally, the main aim of social commerce is to increase the market base and increase sale turnover. Some of the social sites that host social commerce include Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn (IBM Corporation, 2009). However, yahoo introduced the aspect of social commerce in 2005 with an aim of defining the social site tools that included user generated information and user ratings. Social commerce has grown tremendously in the modern world to surpass the adverts in the social sites. Indeed, various companies are now using the established social sites to promote the sales of their ecommerce. However, there have been questions to the results and the effectiveness of social commerce in the business field. Probably, the best thing to question is the effectiveness of the social commerce as a business strategy. With social commerce taking the world by storm with increased subscriptions, it is viable to devise an effective business strategy that will lead to a successful social commerce. Indeed, to increase their competitive advantage most companies in the world embraced social commerce and it is actually paying off. This begs the question as to what is a successful social commerce. Notably, there is no absolute definition of social commerce but there are aspects that define a successful social concern. Ideally, a successful social commerce must guarantee profitable relationships with the customers which manifests in huge sales turnovers and net profits. Such a social commerce should have the ability to encourage social site users to buy more products than the physical customers should. The presence of this notion confirms the successful of social commerce. At the same time, a successful social commerce allows the retailers to showcases their products on the social sites with a view of attracting sales (Marsden, 2010). More so, a successful social commerce supports the consumers to exercise their right of choice in purchasing their products of interest on the social sites. In addition, a successful social commerce enables the presentation of attractive and high quality products on the social sites and on the organization’s website. Moreover, a successful social commerce allows the consumers and retailers to make charitable donations according to their wishes. It should also allow the customers to consult widely, give opinions, propose recommendations, and give feedbacks before or after a given purchase. As such, a successful social commerce delivers value for money to the customers on purchases made. Furthermore, a successful social commerce enables the consumers to make informed business decisions that relate to purchase. It should equally derive authority in business operations, as customers would love working with true and authorized representatives of the suppliers. A successful social concern should also have the capacity to maintain a consistent flow of high quality products (Marsden, 2010). Most assuredly, a successful social commerce fosters the coordination of social commerce and conventional marketing efforts. Notably, this will guarantee reduced costs of advertising and other business operations and attract maximum sales from the increasing sale turnover (IBM Corporation, 2009). Ultimately, a successful social commerce creates a competitive advantage, goodwill, good reception, ensures profitability, and justifies a going concern of the reference business operations. Therefore, to achieve a successful social commerce the management should devise a business strategy that guarantees this. Ideally, there is enormous success in using social commerce for individual and business as they derive economic value from social commerce. Actually, social commerce enables marketers to measure their business value of online marketing by relating the online marketing independent variable to the dependent variable e-commerce. Having known the business value, individuals, and business can trace their position in the market and make the necessary measures to improve it (Clapperton, 2012). Furthermore, social commerce encourages social interaction and business discussions that foster e-commerce by promoting users through user ratings and reviews. In addition, social commerce offers businesses the leeway to create new revenue turnovers by deriving business value from social media content in the social sites. In the same way, social commerce has the ability to enhance communication rates, increase sales turnover, and boost the average order value for online shoppers (Rau, 2011). More so, individually, social commerce offers product selection that enhances product discovery thus helping them to purchase the high quality products in e-commerce. Most assuredly, social commerce attracts less advertising costs while compared to advertising in televisions and newspapers (IBM Corporation, 2009). Actually, business fronts like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace offer advertising services with no monthly charges or leases. It is also clear that social commerce generates customer’s satisfaction because it offers an opportunity to assess the products before purchase. It also has an ability to respond to customer needs and research findings. Social commerce is also an effective advertising location with an access of many online customers. It equally saves labor costs, overhead costs, and material costs, which increases the profitability of the company (Rau, 2011). It significantly enhances faster and cheaper provision of products to the market thus lowering the cost of production. Most significantly, social commerce fosters beneficial customer and supplier interactions and promotes customer loyalty. Indeed, some of the most successful websites of social commerce include Twitter, Facebook, and amazon. Specifically, Facebook offers promotions to global businesses that have 400 Facebook fans thus encouraging social commerce on Facebook social website (Mehra, 2012). In fact, online customers will now have an opportunity to view business alerts on their Facebook news feeds. It is also quite notable that social commerce is growing at a very high rate on Facebook where 800 million consumers are Facebook users. This is because Facebook offers an opportunity in social commerce by availing large consumer data (Oracle, 2012). The significance of Facebook in social commerce is evident in the rising Facebook's IPO and subsequent stock market performance (Panjwani, 2013). In fact, the over 1 billion Facebook users, the branded pages, coupon promotions, and other aspects place Facebook in the right place to foster social commerce. As such, social commerce is seemingly the new trend in global business. Nevertheless, we can ascertain that social commerce equally faces many challenges that may include lack of internet connection, computer illiteracy, and government restrictions. Nevertheless, the benefits of social commerce supersede the challenges thereof. In conclusion, I find that the recent technological advancements have led to significant effects in modern way of living, doing business, and interacting. Specifically, technological advancements, internet connections, and technological networks lead to e-commerce, e-business, and social commerce that lead to economic development through the global business. However, although e-commerce has many benefits, it is unfortunate that many small and medium businesses are yet to understand the significance of e-commerce and equally make no effort to engage in it. They also face challenges in distinguishing e-commerce and e-business. Notably, e-commerce is increasingly becoming social commercial due to its use of online shopping tools, social site generated contents, reviews, user ratings, and recommendations. Some of the famous social sites that support social commerce include Facebook, yahoo, Twitter, My Space, and Amazon. However, with its large worldwide users and enticing applications, Facebook enjoys the most dominant social commerce operations. Indeed, social commerce is the new way of doing business as it derives many benefits to suppliers, individuals, and businesses. The availability of internet connection and technological networks is a fundamental aspect of social commerce. Most importantly, to establish a successful social commerce, we need to devise an effective business strategy. Ultimately, the main aim of social commerce is to gain competitive advantage, good reception, good will, going concern, and maximum profits. References Clapperton, G. (2012). This is Social Commerce: Turning Social Media into Sales. London: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Garafola, M. (2013). Social Commerce Summit Report: E-Commerce Brands Grapple with Social via Trial and Error. Retrieved from: http://www.womma.org/blog/2013/03/social-commerce-summit-report-e-commerce-brands-grapple-with-social-via-trial-and-error Goel, R.(2007). E-Commerce. London: New Age International, 2007. IBM Corporation. (2009). Social Commerce Defined. Retrieved from: http://socialcommercetoday.com/documents/IBM2009.pdf Manzoor, A. (2010). E-Commerce: An Introduction. London: Amir Manzoor, 2010. Marsden, P. (2010). Social Commerce (English): Monetizing Social Media. London: GRIN Verlag, 2010. Mehra, G. (2012). 5 Keys to Social Commerce Success. Retrieved from: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3745-5-Keys-to-Social-Commerce-Success Oracle. (2012). 2012 B2B E-Commerce Survey. Retrieved from: http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/b2b-ecommerce-trends-2012-1503041.pdf Oracle. (2012). Seven Tips for Social Commerce Success across Channels. Retrieved from: http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/social-commerce-success-channels-1504992.pdf Panjwani, M. (2013). From social commerce to social sales: Indian companies take up starting positions. Retrieved from: http://m.indianexpress.com/news/from-social-commerce-to-social-sales-indian-companies-take-up-starting-positions/1101945/ Pearson Education, Inc. (2010). E-commerce. Retrieved from: http://www2.sta.uwi.edu/~anikov/comp6350/questions.pdf Rau, P. L. (2011). Internationalization, Design and Global Development. London: Springer, 2011. Read More