[Maximizing customer outreach through F-commerce]

by

Acknowledgement

I would like to express my thanks to my advisor, for his suggestions, comments, patience and understanding. Very special thanks to my parents, my father, my mother, my brother and my sister who were continuously supporting me throughout my life and leaving me free in all my decisions. I would also like to thank my colleagues for his technical support whenever I needed. I would like to thank to Department, all the university managers, teachers and students with whom I have worked.

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Abstract

An interesting dilemma that companies have been facing of late is what level of promotion is necessary for their website vs. their Facebook page. Recent campaigns show evidence that a few companies have broken traditional norms in directing traffic directly to their fan page, surpassing their websites. What started as a means to an end of drawing people to websites is becoming an end in itself. Such a blatant favouritism showcased towards the Facebook presence of a brand is not without reason. With access to more than 600 million members, an ever increasing fan base and an opportunity to engage closely with the audience, companies desire a glorious ride on the social sea. The purpose of this research is to explore the concept of F-commerce and its implications on the maximising customer outreach.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Problem Statement1

Research Aims and Objectives1

Significance of the Study1

Ethical Concerns2

Validity3

Reliability/Dependability4

Limitations and Suggestion for Future Research6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW7

Facebook as an e-commerce platform7

The social shopping, what is it?7

11 Facebook F-commerce Facts UK brands cannot ignore8

Facebook and Brands9

F-Commerce10

Facebook Credits10

Warner Brothers - Movie Rentals11

The future Facebook Economy11

The Percentage Problem12

How you can get into F-commerce12

Top 10 E-commerce applications on Facebook12

1.Market Netcarnation13

2.Payvment E-Commerce Storefront14

3.Vendor - Shopping Cart Application14

4.Linked Store15

5.MerchantMe15

6.Voyik Store16

7.Tradelr16

8.Store by ReverbNation17

9.Social Store17

10.Ovi17

How companies benefit from Facebook deal?18

Consumer Behaviour in 202018

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY20

Search Technique21

Literature Search22

Inclusion and exclusion criteria23

Critical Appraisal tool24

Appraisal limitations24

Search terms - key terms24

Additional Online searches25

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS26

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION29

REFERENCES30

Chapter 1: Introduction

Problem Statement

Building on the available conceptual and empirical base, we focus on the following research question and this from a long-term perspective. The latter implies that we consistently check what trends can be observed over time:

To investigate the concept of F-commerce and explore the implications of F-commerce on modern businesses.

Research Aims and Objectives

The reason for conducting this research is to investigate the concept of F-commerce and its implications on the maximizing customer outreach. The main research aims and objective shall be:

To investigate the concept of F-commerce.

To explore the implications of F-commerce on modern businesses.

To analyse the challenges faced by modern brands and how these brands can use F-commerce to their ...