BELLEVUE, Wash. — Drugstore.com and its sister site Beauty.com have launched a virtual store on social media portal Facebook.
Social commerce solution provider Adgregate Markets, whose ShopFans technology powers the drugstore.com Facebook store, said Thursday that drugstore.com is the first major health and beauty retailer to enable its Facebook users to shop directly within the Facebook environment.
At the Facebook store, drugstore.com and Beauty.com’s combined 182,000 Facebook visitors will be able to virally promote and share products while they shop through the social "hooks" within the social media site, according to Adgregate.
"Social commerce on Facebook is a natural complement to our trusted store, online and print networks," Colin Veach, director of Internet marketing at drugstore.com, said in a statement.
"Many of our customers are already engaging with us on Facebook, and we know they’re going to enjoy the benefits of shopping securely with ShopFans. We’re looking forward to venturing into and gaining from this next phase in online commerce and customer engagement."
Drugstore.com will leverage ShopFans, a fully functioning native Facebook application, to showcase its deals in everyday essentials as well as hard-to-find health and beauty items, providing Facebook users with access to all available products, according to Adgregate. Facebook visitors can sort and search products by clicking on tabs such as "Just Arrived," "Top Rated," "Hard To Find," "Gift Ideas," "Under $25" and "Best Sellers."
Explaining how a typical online store differs from a shopping outlet on Facebook, Adgregate said that social commerce involves understanding the ways in which users engage with a page. Its ShopFans solution tracks conversations that are occurring, ultimately revealing how the conversion funnel appears within Facebook. The company added that the application also is endorsed by security and privacy providers McAfee, VeriSign and TRUSTe.
"A customer holds more than just spending power. Perhaps even more effective over the longer term is their referral power," commented Henry Wong, chief executive officer of San Francisco-based Adgregate Markets. "Drugstore.com is quickly going to see enhanced customer relationships and greater transactions amid their online commerce, and we’re excited for this. We also expect drugstore.com to gain insight on product recommendations, purchase intent and conversion rates."
