According to news stories today F-commerce is officially a flop. Retailers in the US such as Gap, JC Penney, Nordstrom and Gamestop have all closed the Facebook stores they opened up in the last year. It seems that customers just weren’t buying enough to deliver a return on the investment needed to maintain a Facebook store alongside the main website, mobile version, and apps.

This doesn’t come as much of a surprise  – our own research into this last year showed that 44% of customers weren’t interested in buying from Facebook stores at all; while 25% would only buy through F-commerce if it wasn’t available elsewhere, and 17% would buy if it was easier to buy through Facebook than the main website (and generally it isn’t).

Ultimately customers ‘like’ retail brands on Facebook because they want special offers and discounts, competitions and freebies, and to keep informed on when new products and items come out. So just because it’s possible to build a fully transactional site within Facebook, doesn’t mean you should.

The most effective uses of Facebook drive engagement with loyal customers, in a value exchange that delivers a benefit to the consumer, not just the brand.

One of the ways we do this for Domino’s Pizza is to launch new products on an exclusive basis through the Facebook page.  This creates buzz and interest among our most loyal customers, and helps generate word of mouth around the new products and pizza flavours before the main broadcast advertising campaign breaks.

Facebook Connect and social plug ins already give brands a means of deep integration between their websites and the Facebook platform, whilst providing customers a quick and easy way to share their shopping choices and recommendations seamlessly with their friends.

Ultimately, it’s not enough to simply create a Facebook store and expect business to come. The essence of shopping via Facebook has to be about the collective or shared experience; about getting recommendations from friends or comparing notes before you buy; it should be about group buying for special offers and further discounts; and rewarding your most loyal customers, to make them feel like they are members of an exclusive club.

As we frequently say at Arena, we have to think about the customer first, and understand their behaviour before charging off to develop the tech, just because we can.  The technology should be a means to an end, not the end in itself.