Facebook Commerce And Shopping Scares Consumers

A recent article published by e-Marketer showed that the majority of Facebook users do not want to shop or take part in any e-commerce transactions on Facebook. An Associated Press (AP) and CNBC poll of US consumers conducted in May 2012 found that 54% of respondents did not feel safe buying products or services through Facebook. Only 8% said they felt extremely or very safe making purchases through Facebook. see graph below..

Although many small and big businesses have setup shop on Facebook they are unable to go to the next level by having sales directly on their fan pages. Businesses have been met with a road block and many have pulled down their e-commerce apps and tabs from their fan pages. Marketers speculate that the roadblock may be privacy concerns among users who feel their information is not safe within Facebook. Privacy issues have plagued Facebook since it's inception and has lead to criticisms and outrage among users.

Another possible reason for lack of shopping on Facebook is users simply don't want to shop on Facebook because they are there for other reasons. When someone logs onto Facebook the majority of the time they are thinking about communicating with friends and family, viewing and sharing pictures, and of course stalking. So it's hard to get someone to make a purchase when there are so many distractions around.

Businesses can still however utilize Facebook status updates, offers, and Ads to drive users offsite to make purchases. But once the user is within Facebook they most likely won't take their credit card out to make purchases. Once Facebook is able to banish it's privacy follies and reputation this should open the doors for e-commerce on the social network.