Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the Retail TouchPoints website.
Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram have taken a further dip into online commerce over the past year, with each company announcing that buy buttons will be included as part of their offerings.
Although key social networks have promoted the buttons for months, only Pinterest has launched its version — known as Buyable Pins — on a large scale.
The lack of full-scale delivery has since curbed buy buttons' hype, creating speculation over the efficacy of social platforms sales channels. More cause for concern comes from the lack of information from retailers that are testing the buttons.
For retailers, one risk is essentially handing over a portion of their brand to another party since the social platforms are controlling the buy button experience. A clumsy purchase experience reflects poorly on the brand selling the product.
Inventory management also can be a potential challenge. Buy buttons generally are designed to expose the consumer to one item for a fast purchase, so retailers must selectively pick and choose the items that are an appropriate fit for the service without being too limited in the offering.
Image: Pinterest video
Many retailers may also struggle to integrate their inventory management, payment and product information systems into social platforms because they aren't used to selling outside of their stores and e-commerce sites.
With mobile commerce now representing 30 percent of U.S. e-commerce transactions, according to Criteo, buy buttons still represent a potential opportunity for retailers to capitalize on consumers' innate desire to make impulse purchases, turning shoppers into buyers with just one click.
For buy buttons to become a major hit among e-commerce players, they will have to be deployed with the proper visual context, including accurate product details, images and even brief videos.
"Marketing and supply chain data will need to be synchronized in order for retailers to successfully integrate buy buttons into their business model," said Mike Lapchick, CEO of product content hosting platform Shotfarm. "Product images and details are going to become even more important with buy buttons, so retailers need to leverage a data management system that will allow them to easily exchange data and synchronize it across all channels."
Beyond leveraging product data, retailers must ensure that the company voice does not get lost in translation as it extends across social networks.