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BELLEVUE, Wash. — Drugstore.com is looking to turn its Facebook fans into shoppers.
Late last month drugstore.com and sister site Beauty.com launched a virtual store on the popular social media portal. According to social commerce solution provider Adgregate Markets, whose secure ShopFans technology powers the store, drugstore.com is the first major health and beauty care retailer to enable its Facebook users to shop directly within the Facebook environment.
At the Facebook store drugstore.com and Beauty.com’s 182,000 Facebook visitors can virally promote and share products as they shop via the social “hooks” within the social media site, Adgregate says.
“Social commerce on Facebook is a natural complement to our trusted store, online and print networks,” states Colin Veach, director of Internet marketing at drugstore.com. “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 to spotlight deals for daily essentials as well as hard-to-find health and beauty items, giving Facebook users access to all products, Adgregate notes. Facebook visitors can 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 notes that social commerce involves understanding how users engage with a page. ShopFans tracks these “conversations” as they occur, which shows how the buying conversion appears within Facebook.
“Customers hold more than just spending power. Perhaps even more effective over the longer term is their referral power,” comments 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. We also expect drugstore.com to gain insight on product recommendations, purchase intent and conversion rates.”
