• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, June 3, 2011

The National Retail Federation reports that people are more willing to dabble in social commerce than many retailers realize, with 42% of those who shop online saying they at least occasionally "follow" a store on social media. More than 56% of Facebook users have clicked through to a retail site, while 67% of Twitter users have done so.

The study, based on more than 1,700 online shoppers and a joint effort between the NRF's Shop.org e-commerce unit, comScore, and Social Shopping Labs, found that those online shoppers who track retailers typically follow six stores, whether through Facebook, Twitter or a retailer's blog. Most (58%) say they do so to find deals, while 49% just want to stay up to date on products. And 39% also like information on contests and events.

But perhaps the biggest news is that these consumers are open to skipping stores' sites entirely, with 35% saying they would be willing to make a purchase directly from Facebook, and 32% right from Twitter.

Smartphones are key to these findings, since 42% of Twitter users access the site by phone at least once a day, as do 34% of Facebook users. Some 34% watch YouTube videos on their smartphones on a daily basis. Some 47% have used their phones to check product reviews while in a store.

"Americans are easily accessing social networks when they have even a few moments of down time, whether they're scanning Facebook news feeds while picking up their kids from school or tweeting about their shopping experience while browsing the mall," Shop.org says in its release. "The popularity of mobile devices will only boost the power of social commerce, which presents an incredible opportunity for retailers."

The study also found that while group buying sites have generated lots of attention, with 82% of the survey aware of them, only 19% have actually made a purchase.

Location-based apps are still well under the radar of most shoppers, however. Foursquare had the highest awareness with 16%, followed by Yelp (10%) and Gowalla (6%.)