In 2011, the study "The Effect of Social Networks and the Mobile Web on Website Traffic and the Inevitable Rise of Facebook," conducted by Webtrends and Adgregates Markets, stated that social commerce was generating €5 billion worldwide at the time, and that it would reach €30 billion by 2015. What has happened since then? Is social commerce a direct sales channel with sufficient significance? But what are we talking about when we refer to social selling ?
I discussed all of this in my presentation at the Digital Innovation Forum , held at the Madrid School of Marketing on October 8. Several myths still exist surrounding social selling that obscure the realities of the sector.
In 2011, the development of social media led to the rise of a new special lead marketing model: f-commerce , or sales through online stores that brands began to install on their Facebook pages. Numerous applications and companies began to emerge offering to open your virtual storefront directly on Facebook: in Spain, among others, Facetoria Social Shop, Social Buy, Herzio, Palbin, and Social Media Shop emerged, while internationally, Payvment, Carttini, VendingBox, Infused Commerce, and Beetailer appeared. Of these, the only company still operating today in Spain is Palbin, and in the US, Payvment and Beetailer. The rest have disappeared, and the stores they set up for brands on Facebook have also closed.
That may be true, but statistics say otherwise, at least in Spain. According to the VI Social Media Study by IAB Spain, 2015 , Spanish internet users primarily use social media to check up on their contacts, watch videos, send messages, post content, chat, etc. Nine out of 10 follow brands, but only 14% have ever purchased something through social media. Therefore, it is not a common practice.