Millennials, those between the ages of 18-34, are making social e-commerce more prevalent than ever. According to our Consumer Commerce Monitor™ survey, 56 % of millennial local consumers said that they have interacted with social media in the past 6 months at some point in the purchase funnel and that 32% of all local purchases made in the last year were made online.

While social media may not have the critical significance of mobile, it is becoming increasingly crucial for ecommerce success. If SMBs are ever going to fully commit to goals of social ecommerce, they must integrate the strategy at all points of the consumer purchase funnel. According to our CCM survey data, 49% of millennial consumers reported using social media more often now than they did in the past year for local shopping.

Social networks are strongest as sources of retail influence and product discovery. Roughly a quarter of U.S. social network users have made a purchase on a retail web site after clicking from a social network in the past year, according to a report from Javelin Strategy & Research. According to our CCM survey, 66% of all millennial consumers go to Facebook when they used a social network for local shopping, followed by YouTube (20%), Google+ (16%) and Twitter (14%). Also, 59% of millennial consumers also ranked Facebook as the number one choice for local shopping. Social media was rated the most influential in these top five verticals among millennial local shopping habits:

Source: BIA/Kelsey’s Consumer Commerce Monitor™ (CCM), 2013.

The future of social e-commerce looks promising for small businesses if they can get it right. Let’s take a look at some quick facts about what SMBs are currently doing to capture millennial shoppers. According to our Local Commerce Monitor survey:

— 52% of all SMBs have a Facebook Business Page utilized for advertising or promotion. Followed by 25% of SMBs using Google+ and 24% using Twitter.

— 38% of SMBs use their Facebook pages to acquire new business and customers. Another 27% use it as an awareness and promotion tool.

— 85% of SMBs listed social media as a future marketing priority.

Many SMBs are still trying to understand how best to deliver content to millennial consumers via their social media and ecommerce channels while also reaching new prospects. Advertising on social channels like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest can be the communication channels needed to garner attention. While there is some debate about the overall value of social advertising, it is hard to argue that it offers some of the best targeting available to business owners; especially when their target audience is spending an increasing amount of time on social media.

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Groupon’s transformation from a daily deals company to a multi-channel shopping promotions and e-commerce portal continue with its launch today of Freebies, a new program that groups together online coupons, promo codes. sales, giveaways and samples.

More than 5,500 brands are said to be participating. Retailers taking part with special offers in the initial launch include Macy’s, Nordstrom, Best Buy, American Eagle and Sephora. The effort is focused on the U.S., with international expansion expected in 2014.

The new effort pits Groupon against other providers such as ValPak, Gannett’s ShopLocal, Wanderful Media’s Find&Save, and adds to other Groupon branded efforts, including Groupon Local (local deals and offers), Groupon Getaways (travel) and Groupon Goods (electronics and other products). Groupon also offers Breadcrumb for B2B merchant payments, promotions and services.

Freebies is an interesting and ambitious application. By extending beyond daily deals and moving towards a shopping mall approach, Groupon has focused on becoming a more heavily trafficked site. The challenge will be to convince consumers to think of Groupon when they are researching their shopping choices. In this case, the eyeballs (help to) win.

Groupon VP Sean Smyth and Wanderful Media CEO Ben Smith are speaking at Leading in Local: Interactive Local Media Dec. 10-12 in San Francisco. You can register here.

The post Groupon’s ‘Freebies’ Seeks to Attract National Retailer Promotions appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

During the 72-hour whirlwind that was ILM:10, several other announcements also came down the pike. Among them:

– Group buying giant Groupon continues its flurry of partnerships. The Chicago-based deal a day inked separate deals with the Chicago Tribune Media Group and JiWire. The Tribune agreement calls for Groupon to power local deals each weekday on the company’s recently launched ChicagoShopping.com site. ChicagoShopping.com wants to add depth to the deal-a-day experience by enabling users to personalize deals around specific shopping interests.

Groupon has several co-branded deals with traditional media companies, including McClatchy and Media General. Typically, it furnishes the publisher with an exclusive offer for its market audience and splits revenues equally. All merchant sales, creative and payment processing is handled by Groupon, which as a result, is able to add valuable buyer information to its database.

The pact with JiWire marks an important step for Groupon in targeting more granular, sub-metro deals. It also opens up new inventory possibilities for a brand that has quickly seen demand outstrip supply. JiWire’s network of public Wi-Fi hotspots (more than 30,000 in locales such as cafes, coffee shops and airport lounges) will allow for hyperlocal targeting of deals at venue level. JiWire users are typically on-the-go and tech-savvy, which may ripen new deals categories such as travel-oriented restaurant and retail chains.

Deal-a-day competitor LivingSocial has also debuted sub-metro deals, but not with such granularity. In related efforts to open up new inventory, Groupon introduced personalized deals over the summer.

– It didn’t take eBay long after its $75 million purchase of Milo to begin incorporating the company’s real-time shopping data into its product line. EBay is integrating Milo’s local store inventory and pricing information into its RedLaser barcode scanning applications.

RedLaser’s single-scan interface enables product and price comparisons at nearby stores. Milo’s data adds yet another content layer. EBay is also expected to incorporate Milo functionality into other online and mobile products, notably its Shopping.com site and perhaps ProStores (an online storefront software company for SMBs).

– ComScore released an early wave of holiday online spending stats (Nov. 1-Dec. 3). The gradual economic comeback has triggered a 12 percent increase year over year in total online spend. Cyber Monday (Nov. 29) eclipsed $1 billion in e-commerce by itself.

Large national brands have experienced the strongest growth. The top 25 online retailers are up 20 percent over 2009, and some of that increased market share is at the expense of small and mid-market shops, where sales remain flat.

The post Post ILM:10: News and Notes Aplenty appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.