BabyAndMeGifts.com sells gifts for mothers and babies. Owner Jacquelyn Myers uses her Facebook storefront to highlight some of the most popular items for sale on the site, which works well next to the deals and incentives that the company offers on its Facebook Page.
Myers's Facebook store is powered by BigCommerce, the same software that runs her e-commerce store. She is able to display her inventory on her Facebook Page at no extra cost, and users are directed to her main site to complete their purchases. This differs from some other storefronts that allow users to checkout within Facebook.
"It is an easy way for my customers to begin to shop at BabyAndMeGifts.com," Myers says. "It gives them a quick overview of what is available to purchase at BabyAndMeGifts.com. They are able to click on a product to learn more about it."
Myers attributes about 50% of her online sales to her Facebook Page.
"It is a great way to stay in front of customers. I believe it has been as effective as e-mail marketing for BabyAndMeGifts.com," she says.
2. Livescribe
When Livescribe released a new version of its audio-recording smart pen in July, the company decided to rebrand its Facebook Page. Part of this effort included adding commerce functionality through the app Storefront Social. As with BabyAndMeGifts.com's storefront, customers can browse inventory on the page, but they are directed to Livescribe.com's website in order to make a purchase.
"Our goal was to keep Facebook fans on our Page as long as possible and interacting with the product," explains Livescribe Senior Marketing Manager Brett Kaufman. "Allowing fans to 'Like,' share or tweet their interest in a certain product has helped us distribute our message to even more consumers. Allowing our fans to interact with our products within Facebook before purchasing has made a big impact."
Kaufman says the company has seen an increase in revenue and customer awareness after the small investment of setting up a Facebook storefront. He suggests that other companies that want to do the same should consider a third-party provider like Storefront Social, integrate an XML feed so their storefronts updated automatically, and seize the opportunity to do in-Facebook transactions if their providers allow it.
3. Ettitude
Australia-based Ettitude sells environmentally friendly products made from bamboo and organic cotton. The company's Facebook storefront is powered by BigCommerce, which it also uses for its e-commerce store. Managing Director Phoebe Yu said that while the company has logged sales coming from the Facebook Page, she's not sure whether to attribute those to the Facebook Page in general, or to the Page's storefront, as distinguishing between referrals from the two is difficult.
Either way, she says it's been a good marketing strategy to display Ettitude's inventory on its social space.
"You can update [the storefront] frequently, and if your content is interesting, people will 'Like' it or share it... you can't send out newsletters that frequently -- that will annoy people," Yu Says.
More Business Resources from Mashable:
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