There is a new term being tossed around; Social Commerce. What is Social Commerce? And how exactly do companies turn Social Media into Social Sales. How are social platforms used as e-commerce tools? What is the sales potential of social media?

Recently I purchased a pair of cowboy boot socks for a friend’s kid. How did I learn about them? Pinterest sent me an email saying “Hey Felix, here are some cool Pinterest pins you might like.” I visited the pin, went on to Ebay, and purchased the cute socks for baby Zela.

So, is the mobile consumer a different animal from the brick and mortar, and online full browser consumer? Think about it. I got an email which lead me to the site, which lead me to Ebay…  Email on my Mac, using Chrome browser, to ebay on same. But remember pintrest and ebay both offer a mobile experience. I used the traditional full browser web experience. So, is there a distinguishing factor between traditional browser shopper and mobile shopper? Let’s see how my kid purchased his socks.

My 12 year old son showed me a pair of sports socks he wanted; yes he is into sports socks and they are not cheap. Anyhow, he showed me the socks on his cell phone. I asked him to find a cheaper pair. He did – same pair, but cheaper via a different vendor. He placed the socks in the cart and proceeded to checkout. Paypal was his option, and so $12.99 later he had his new socks purchased. All from his cell phone while I relaxed in my recliner at home.

Both experiences seem to carry some unique as well as common actions:

1- They both require a desire to search/ locate/ and purchase the item.

2- They both required some interest to be generated before we embarked on our mission to find and purchase the items.

3- They differ in that my son’s interest is peaked by social interaction on FB and/or Instagram, while mine is via opting to receive an email notification sort of a reminder to go take a look.

4- They also differ in that I prefer to shop using the full browser experience, while my son is completely comfy shopping on his phone.