Would e-commerce companies miss Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest? Not really, according to the industry blog EcommerceBytes. The blog’s survey of five large “online marketplaces” found that only 1.1 percent of their combined 100 million yearly visitors came from social media.
The e-commerce sites were guaranteed anonymity for participating in the survey, so it’s impossible to know if this low rate of referrals holds true for Amazon or multichannel players like Walmart. But it does show there’s a healthy amount of skepticism in the e-commerce world when it comes to social media.
“On the macro view, I don’t believe social media is an effective way to drive traffic, relative to other options,” one CEO told EcommerceBytes.
For his part, EcommerceBytes President David Steiner offers this advice to online sellers: “Perhaps it’s time to rethink the amount of time and energy you, as an online merchant, spent Tweeting, Liking and Pinning and evaluate what you are really getting in return.”
You can read more at ecommercebytes.com.
