Facebook. Even with the attendance of Google, you don’t need to google to know what Facebook is. Since Mark Zuckenberg found Facebook in 2004, now it has more than 800 million active users with more than 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages).

Facebook Statistics

Have we got your attention yet?

Let’s take a look on compiled Facebook statistics provided by Social Commerce Today.

• 2-4% F-store conversion rates – on a par with web-stores (avg. 3.4%, according to Forrester/Shop.org)
• Click-through rates on Facebook walls are 6.5%
• 67% of retailers plan to use Facebook to drive traffic to their e-commerce sites
• 25%; proportion of users who post links to other companies, products or services
• Facebook users spend 1.5x more online that other Internet users
• 1 in 11 humans that are on Facebook (642 613 700) [Q2 2011]
• In 2010, Facebook grew by 7.9 users/second
• 700 billion minutes are spent on Facebook every month
• 75% of Facebook users have “liked” a brand
• The media value generated by the average Facebook fan is $3.60/year
• 117%: the additional amount a fan will spend on a brand compared to a non fan
• 51%: the increase in likelihood a customer will purchase, after clicking the ‘like’ button
• 76%: percentage of retailers who plan to use Facebook for ‘social commerce’ initiatives
• 7 out of 10: proportion of digital marketers who have implemented or planning to implement Facebook Like feature

Facebook as Ecommerce Platform For Newbies

Nowadays, Facebook is more than just a social utility. Just like anywhere else where people routinely gather and communicate, creative people called entrepreneurs would sniff the opportunity to promote and sell. I have to admit that there are 20-30 accounts being misused as online store in my Facebook friends list. That is what exactly happening to Facebook these days: sort of becoming an ecommerce platform for newbies.
There is nothing illegal with using Facebook as an online store platform, except that you violate the terms of use. Oh, who cares. Yet why do I say that it is just for newbies?
Because, Facebook probably is a good start to sell products, but it is not the one that you want to live forever with. Let me just break it down for you to get a better picture.

Selling Products via Facebook – Common Practices

After sign up for a new account, a seller would add as many people as possible as friends. On average, Facebook limits this activity up to 25 people/day. To get, let’s say, 500 friends to make your marketing efforts get heard, you’ll need +- 20 days just to get friend-ed. Next, you’ll upload your product pictures. Do not forget that an album can only contain 200 pictures. After they are uploaded, you still have to add description and tag friend for each picture. Your last job is to promote your latest upload by update status as often as possible, or send link to your friends’ wall.
Pretty exhausting, isn’t it?

Another Red Flags To Consider

There are several other limitations of using Facebook account as online store:

1. There is maximum number of friends.
2. No statistics report of people who have been visiting your profile from time to time.
3. No search feature. Imagine if you have hundreds or thousands of products. It must be very tiring for your customers to check each photo album.
4. You can say good bye to search engine optimization. Until today, there has been no clear sign if Facebook would like to cooperate with Google Search.

The first limitation can be eliminated by using a Facebook fan page instead of account. Yet still, the others cannot.

A Win-win Solution

I’m not saying that you should not use Facebook for business purpose at all. Look at how close you can get to those 800 million active users. Look at the opportunity to build your brand image in relatively cheap way.
Now, imagine if you combine all those advantages with the reliability of having your own ecommerce website.

WordPress Meets WordPress E-Commerce Meets Tokokoo Meets Facebook

WordPress is a free blogging platform that powers more than 25 million sites worldwide whose trend now moves to become ecommerce platform. To use WordPress as ecommerce platform, sure you have to install an ecommerce plugin  with tested reliability and high user satisfaction.

WordPress E-Commerce is a free e-commerce plugin provided by GetShopped for selling digital and tangible goods online. The WP e-Commerce Plugin has been proven over and over to be the most powerful, matured, and industry relavant WordPress e-Commerce Plugin in the world. This makes the plugin has steady download statistics even since its early launch. Below is the WPEC download statistics screenshot from WordPress Plugin Directory.

WPEC Awesome Features

There are reasons why Tokokoo endorses WPEC plugin for our themes. WPEC plugin makes it easy to add a WordPress e-Commerce shopping cart to your site whether you sell 10 or 10,000 products. Besides, it is easy to manage even for beginners. The interface is so familiar for WordPress users, so you can save learning time. More of WPEC Awesome Features

Now that you have the frame (WordPress) and engine (Ecommerce Plugin), you need a case to complete your ecommerce site. This case means a theme, something that has closest proximity to your customers. This theme will serve as you, talk as you, and react as you.

Therefore, no ordinary WordPress theme is required. You need a WordPress ecommerce theme with extensive features like Facebook Integration, so you won’t miss any Facebook opportunity previously presented. A theme with responsive layout (adjusts itself when viewed from different devices) also helps a lot, since:

1. 200+ million Facebook users accessing the utility through their mobile devices
2. 94% of phone users will communicate on their handsets via social networks

“Where will I find such theme?”

Try Tokokoo. We produce high quality WordPress ecommerce themes that were born from the marriage of style and purpose. In short, here are a few of our themes that will get you interested:

1. Responsive WordPress Themes – automatically adjust themselves when viewed from different devices: PC, laptop, iPhone, iPad, smartphones, etc.
2. Facebook Integration – this feature will connect your ecommerce site with your brand Facebook fan page. By doing this, all products uploaded to your site will automatically being view-able on Facebook. Impress your fans and sell more with the power of WordPress E-commerce. 

3. Facebook Fan Page Example – Kelontong WordPress Ecommerce Theme

4. …find more at Tokokoo.com/features

Take a quick look to see how Facebook Meets WordPress E-commerce at the theme demo pages, it only takes 3 minutes of your time:

• Kelontong Premium 

  

  Kelontong WordPress Ecommerce Themes with Facebook Store Tab

• Bookoo 
• Parquet
• Appcloud Premium 
• Disco Premium
• Dangdoot Premium 
• OlahRaga
• Kakileema Premium
• Bangkoo

Conclusion

Now, imagine what will happen if you build an online store website (on free platform like WordPress), using reliable e-commerce platform, wearing powerful WordPress ecommerce themes, and combine all of those with the Facebook opportunities. Your business will definitely turn into something big!