Guy Labbé — blog about Web & graphic design

Will Facebook e-commerce replace online shopping websites?

With its 55 millions members, Facebook IS an interesting network to make your business move forward. Wisely used for right purpose, this network can be extremely powerful to increase your visibility, and probably your sales.

A new application (via Capitaine Commerce) providing online shops on Facebook is now available and retained my attention : Payvment.

Payvment allows you to create a little shop using Facebook; good news, because we'll now be able to reach patheticest Facebook members which are lazy and don't go outside of their favorite social network, offering them products directly on Facebook.

As Capitaine said, it would be a great idea to duplicate our online shops in Payvment version, and it would be easy. Design, layout, these are stuff you won't have to care about because you're stuck within Facebook's design. This is good excuse to gain time, which isn't bad for once...

I also think applications like Payvment are great solution for little sellers that only wish to sell 4 or 5 products, and that don't want to invest time into learning e-commerce technics basics.

But... this kind of app brings a delicate question :

Will they replace traditionnal e-commerce platforms?

When you think to it, it's quite frightening ... but I would be surprised if this happens.. because :

  1. On every e-commerce website, customer experience is different and variety of experience is great. I prefer to buy an iPod on apple.ca than on Payvment Apple's page (if there's one).
  2. Such applications will keep few options because of Facebook framework environment.
  3. Not everybody likes Facebook and its habit to make your personnal informations its own. If it becomes as easy to profile your buying behaviour (because these shops are on Facebook), don't you worry about it?

Anyway, Payvment is an interesting solution that I'd like to try soon. It cool be great to offer its integration to customers that use Facebook for promotion... but, as I said before... it won't replace a true e-commerce website!

What do you think about it?

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