According to the Compete quarterly Online Shopper Intelligence Study, online consumers are now using retailers' Facebook pages as online circulars to engage with brands online. The report says
that one quarter of consumers now visit an official Facebook page for a retailer or consumer product at least once a month, and 56% of these respondents say they use retailers' Facebook pages to
keep up to date on sales and promotions.
More than 20% of consumers said that Facebook pages have been "influential" or "extremely influential" in making a purchasing decision,
suggesting that posting sales, promotions and other calls to action on Facebook is a wise idea for retailers looking to drive incremental sales and boost consumer engagement on the social network.
Debra Arbesman, Compete senior associate, says "... Facebook pages can be a highly strategic and relatively low-cost marketing tool for retailers to engage with shoppers... (as) retailers are
now making Facebook pages part of an integrated online shopping experience... (expected to) take the industry by storm in the coming months."
The study examined traffic to Facebook's
top brand pages and discovered that the Apple iTunes Facebook page actually received more traffic than the iTunes domain did in February.
Matt Pace, Compete managing director of retail and
consumer products, notes that "Nearly half of consumers in the study reported that they are a fan of five or more retailers/brands on Facebook... "
Consumer Reasons For Visiting a Retailer Facebook Page |
Reason For Visit | % of Respondents (Multiple OK) |
Keep
up-to-date on sales and promotins | 56.2% |
Learn more about a specific retailer | 29.0 |
Appears in news feed/friend "likes" | 26.4 |
Let others know why retailer preference | 13.7 |
Connect
with others liking retailer | 13.6 |
Source: Compete Online Shopper Intelligence, Q1
2011 (Compiled from a survey of 3,269 online purchasers between April 14 and May 5, 2011) |
For additional information, please visit Compete here.