In the past, we have chastised the idea of selling on Facebook (f-commerce): here and here. Recently, there have been several reports that social commerce may just be a bunch of hype, and, more relevantly, there are now compelling sales data pointing towards the infeasibility of Facebook as a platform for commerce. Forrester Research, Inc. released its latest report on the so-called f-commerce phenomenon, which has been neatly summarized in this SocialCommerceToday.com article.

Simply put, the results are pathetic; nobody has made any major money on Facebook to make it a worthwhile customer acquisition channel to consider. Worst of all, online retailers infected with the herd mentality still often charge ahead with plastering their website with Facebook Like buttons, buying fans (seriously?), installing f-commerce software on their Facebook Pages, etc. without a clear idea on how to turn a profit on those efforts. We have always wondered if Facebook’s explosive growth and hype have actually clouded the judgment of brands and retailers into believing that Facebook is the elixir to all marketing and branding woes.

No, Facebook is not the panacea for all ills. Use it for customer service, user feedback, or even for short-term deals and promotions if you want, but do the actual commercial transaction elsewhere – somewhere more stable and less vulnerable to API/policy changes. Any Facebook developer can testify that developing Facebook applications can be a nightmare sometimes; we never know what will change tomorrow. Platform issues aside, we really should also consider what or who we are competing against when we decide to peddle our goods on Facebook. No, your competitors are not other brands within your niche; think again.

Consider this quote by Paul Marsden:

“Facebook is a people-centric forum, and whilst huge – a forum it is. And the forum has been around since the 1970’s – do you know any businesses that made money from connecting forums with retail?”

Try competing with a consumer’s closest friends and family members. We would be very surprised if a large number of consumers would prefer to pull out their credit cards and make a purchase on a cramped “Facebook store” than to comment on their friends’ new haircut or post witty status updates to garner Likes and congratulatory comments. The blue bar on top of Facebook.com is an f-commerce retailer’s biggest enemy, just as the back button in a browser is a website owner’s biggest enemy. Once a red notification number appears, it is game over (or cart abandonment, whatever you prefer to call it).