Social Commerce Takes Over Europe

According to comScore’s 2010 Europe Digital Year in Review, social networking, and with it social commerce, is quickly taking over the online advertising and retail field in Europe. So, vendors everywhere, you do not want to miss out on this trend.

 Social networking and online discounting are the two areas that have seen the most explosive growth in Europe. To illustrate, in the last year the total number of monthly users of coupon sharing sites has grown by 164%, while Facebook commands over three quarters of the European social networking market. Interestingly, Turkey, as the sole representative of Eastern Europe mentioned in the report, took fourth place in terms of the reach of coupon sites, putting it behind Italy, but in front of Germany.

Advertising on social networking sites has also grown considerably in most European countries, which is a direct consequence of the rise in popularitiy of social networking sites. For example, in Germany the total display ad impressions on social networking sites grew by 102 percent, while France and the UK saw a growth of 64 and 47 percent, respectively. What this means is that social network advertising has taken the top spot in effective online advertising.

So in summary, the old continent is no longer lagging behind the US in terms of using social networking and coupon sharing sites. So anyone looking to increase their market share in Europe is well advised to take their social commerce efforts very seriously in this coming year.

The most surefire way seems to be offering coupons through GroupOn, or Facebook Deals, though a regularly updated Facebook page is an absolute must. As is the fact that this page must be updated by someone with a genuine interest of interacting with followers. After all, at the heart of social commerce lies the effort of making eCommerce more human. And this is, quite possibly, the main reason why social commerce has proven to be so successful and profitable.

Staff Blogger, the Technology Gurus, Inc.