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Research Paper

Managerial Economic Analysis of the Impact of Social Commerce on E-commerce

Submitted by

Student

Prepared for

Professor Thomas C. Makemson

BUSN 6120, Managerial Economics

Spring 1, 20XX

Section: XX

Webster University

March 2, 20xx

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORSHIP: I, xx, certify that I am the author. I have cited all sources from which I used data, ideas, or words, either quoted directly or paraphrased. I also certify that this paper was prepared by me specifically for this course.

____________ 03/02/20xx

Signature Date

Today, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, MySpace are well-known social networking brand names that many of us have grown accustomed to making part of our daily routine, whether it be for staying in touch with friends, networking, or micro-blogging. Social networking tools have the potential to revolutionize e-commerce as we know it today through “social commerce” platforms. A 2011 study by Booz & Co estimates that social commerce is currently a $5 billion market with the potential to grow to $30 billion in five years (Booz & Co., 2011). Social commerce's transformational power lies in its personalization of the internet experience, connectivity with an individual’s network, and the dynamic customer data collection that can drive current and future marketing and sales efforts. In this paper, the author will introduce the social commerce concept, examine the social commerce market, explore the effect of social commerce on consumer behavior, discuss social commerce pricing strategies and valuation of social commerce networks, evaluate the industry concentration and look at the future of the social commerce.

What is Social Commerce?

Even though today we equate social networking with Facebook and Twitter, social networking itself is not a brand new concept. “Early forms of social networks include the guilds in medieval Europe, trade groups, and...