Will teams launch stores on Facebook?
I’ve been thinking lately…now that the world understands what Websites are, it might be time to forget the concept altogether. As long as we think in terms of “my Website” we might be missing a bigger opportunity…which we might call “Web Presence.”
Case in point…
From NPR.org - In a first, but likely not last for Facebook, a retailer is setting up shop inside the popular social-networking site.
Flower and gift retailer 1-800-Flowers.com plans to announce Wednesday it has opened a retail store to let people shop for its products directly through Facebook.
The Carle Place, N.Y.-based company was already a pioneer in using a 1-800 number as its name. The company went online in 1991 and three years later it became the first merchant on AOL.
Now that it gets the majority of its orders online, CEO and founder Jim McCann calls mobile applications and the Facebook store a natural step. The company launched an application for the BlackBerry last fall, and one for the iPhone followed shortly.
I don’t know that 800 Flowers will sell zillions of petunias through the Facebook channel, but it makes sense to me the online retailer has a point of sale inside the popular social network. Seems to me that sports properties out follow this example and create online ticket counters and merchandise stands on Facebook as well.
In the era of Web 2.0 and beyond, the idea that we build a Website and everyone comes to us is, well, over. It’s not that we shouldn’t have Websites, but if we spent more time thinking about ways to distribute our brand experiences and allow fans to interact with our brands where THEY are, we might be even more successful.
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