I had planned to write about the new Microsoft/Yahoo deal today, when a more interesting story caught my eye on MarketingVOX.com.
It seems 1-800-Flowers is letting fans of its Facebook page place orders for floral arrangements without leaving the social media site. Facebook fans can browse items, place them in a cart, select a delivery date, and send.
Talk about leveraging social media for profit! Lots of other retailers have a presence on Facebook, but they usually just provide forums, coupons, and a link to their main site, where customers can buy from them.
I suppose people may start grumbling about this… saying that’s not what Facebook was intended to be. It’s supposed to be a place for people to connect with old friends, meet new friends and exchange photos, videos, etc. But once corporations jumped on the bandwagon, you just knew that 1-800-Flowers idea would come to pass.
It’s going to be interesting to see how much business this e-commerce site will deliver. And how many other businesses will start to follow suit. If it gets too “corporate,” I’m afraid Facebook may lose its cache’ and another social media network will have to step in to fill the void.
What do you think?
Click here for the full MarketingVOX story.
