PowerReviews Bi-Weekly Industry News Roundup
Welcome back to another edition of the PowerReviews Bi-Weekly Industry News Roundup! Exciting things are transpiring in the world of Social Commerce as Facebook prepares for IPO. From retailers’ continued excitement at the prospect of Facebook Commerce to an interesting recap of 2011 retail happenings, as well as looking ahead into 2012 and beyond, PowerReviews has curated the best e-commerce/social shopping news so you are given only the crème de la crème.
Facebook finally announced their IPO which, to no surprise, is predicted to shatter a few records. the $5 IPO is the largest for Internet companies ever, and is expected to raise as much as $75-$100 million. There were some interesting nuggets of information in the S-1, including that Facebook experienced a 4-fold increase in sales over the past four years to $3.71 billion in 2011. The planned IPO dwarfs Google’s 2004 offering, and stands to test whether social networking companies will be able to hold their own against established brands like McDonalds. Brian Womack and Ari Levy of Bloomberg discuss:
Facebook Seeks to Raise Up to $5 Billion in Biggest Internet IPO on Record
Facebook Commerce is expected to continue gaining speed this year, as retailers flock to the social networking platform to sate their thirst for a new revenue channel. Booz and Company, a consulting firm, estimated that $1 billion in goods would be sold through social media in the US in 2011. That figure is expected to triple in 2012 and reach $14 billion by 2015. The folks over at eMarketer examine the burgeoning social commerce trend in this article:
Facebook Commerce Holds Promise for Retailers
Paralleling the explosion in social commerce is another trend, mobile commerce. According to industry analyst Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, spending on smartphones is expected to reach $10 billion this year. Ebay in particular has experienced incredible grown, reaching a record $5 billion in mobile purchases (from smartphones and tablets) in 2011–they predict this number will climb to $8 billion by the end of this year. Rachel Strugatz of WWD examines trends from last year that will continue into the new year:
