Its first Facebook commerce attempt with Amazon didn’t pan out, but Procter & Gamble have come back to to the platform with a new strategy.
P&G quietly has added “shop” or “shop now” buttons to Facebook fan pages of several brands in recent weeks, including Tide, Gillette, Olay, Gain, CoverGirl, Luvs and Febreze, with several more expected to come on line in the weeks ahead.
Fulfillment of items purchased within Facebook on the P&G brand pages comes through P&G’s own e-store that opened last year, but the layout leaves room for other retailers to join as alternatives. Walmart.com is considering linking with P&G’s Facebook pages as an option, said a spokeswoman for the retailer.
People familiar with the matter said other e-tailers may also eventually join the P&G f-commerce effort as partners, including Amazon re-joining. In an e-mail, P&G spokeswoman Tonia Elrod said, “As we expand the tests across more of our brands, P&G products will also be available for purchase from a variety of qualified retailers,” but declined to comment on specific ones.
Through “buy it now” buttons across many of P&G’s brand websites, shoppers already can select from a variety of retailers, but the P&G initiative may mark a couple of firsts in Facebook commerce. It appears to be the first time a brand has allowed multiple retail partners for fulfillment of orders on Facebook, and, should Walmart follow through on joining the effort, it would be the first time Walmart.com has sold products entirely within Facebook.
“Social-network selling is an extension of our overall focus on innovation and brand building,” Ms. Elrod said. “We expect testing commerce via social networks like Facebook will help us accelerate e-commerce growth as consumers buy more of our categories online.” P&G began Facebook e-commerce last year with some fanfare via its Pampers brand fan page, which also offered products from several other P&G brands without leaving Facebook, using Amazon as the sole retailer fulfilling those sales.
But P&G quietly pulled the plug on that effort earlier this year for a couple of reasons, according to people familiar with the matter. The company was concerned about backlash from other retailers, particularly Walmart, being shut out of its Facebook pages, and the Amazon platform had technical issues that made for a poor user experience.
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