Social Commerce

The concept of 'Social Commerce' is not new, since the very first traders sold goods and services, customers have made recommendation to friends and associates. Reputations were built - slowly, as a result of advertising and social interaction, brand names became well known.

The creation of the internet created a paradigm shift in behavior, goods and services could now be purchased over the internet, products and prices easily compared and all without the need to physically visit a high street store. E-Commerce has ground into a multi-billion dollar industry, with consumers demanding ever more sophisticated  applications, and vendors ever keen to innovate.

Social media was soon to follow as friends started to share information and online communities grew. An online community allows friends and others to share information easily without cost and almost without effort; recommendation was suddenly 'turbo-charged'. For example, millions around the world could view a funny video posted on video sharing site, all a as result of friends recommendation.

E-Commerce websites started to incorporate features that were inspired by social media, customers could rate a product or a service, they were invited to write reviews and tell their friends. Today, the first generation the 'abc' of ecommerce and social media is morphing into the next generation of services the 'After - abc' services; this intersection of social media and ecommerce  is 'social commerce'.

Social ecommerce can take many forms including; group buying, social shopping communities, "purchase sharing" and social marketing. Gradually theses 'new' services will develop into socially intelligent systems that understands the shopping data creating a revolution in online shopping.