In two short years, LivingSocial has blossomed from a Facebook application development shop into a leading group buying platform in 230 markets and 12 countries. But the question du jour in deal a day isn’t “what have you done?” but “what’s next?” At ILM East, LivingSocial Chief Operating Officer Eric Eichmann mapped a diversified plan that includes instant deals, new verticals and increased segmentation.

LivingSocial is currently testing Instant Deals in its hometown of Washington, D.C. Flash sales are uploaded onto a mobile app and allow merchants to push specific goods or services in time-sensitive windows (e.g., “half off lunch for the next three hours”). Instant utilizes all four of the company’s “pillars of success”: local, mobile, social and commerce.

Eichmann shared social statistics that are particularly striking. For instance, during LivingSocial’s highly successful national deal with Amazon, 40 percent of purchases were a byproduct of link sharing. There were 185,000 shares on Facebook alone.

Moving forward, Eichmann and team think they can continue to leverage “discovery and surprise” to delight customers. Notably, this is manifesting itself  in Escapes, a higher-touch, more considered set of experiences that grow out of the company’s acquisition of Urban Escapes.

Also, look for LivingSocial to continue to segment deals geographically, burrowing into smaller districts and neighborhoods based on customer propensity to shop close to home. It’s already experimenting with sub-metro segmentation in markets such as D.C. and New York.

The post ILM East: LivingSocial Moves Forward … in a Flash appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Many national retailers have operated Facebook pages for years, and now local businesses are on-boarding at an alarming rate (BIA/Kelsey’s LCM 14 survey revealed that 48 percent of SMBs already have a dedicated page). These stats augur social shifts 2011: from experimentation to performance, and from communication to transactional commerce.

Adgregate Markets is an early mover in social commerce, turning Facebook presences into full-service storefronts. It recently released ShopFans 2.0, a platform with a suite of embedded commerce functions that enrich a consumer’s secure shopping experience directly within a brand’s social site.

The feature grabbing the most attention, naturally, is group buying. Businesses can build daily deals on their Facebook pages that can be purchased with a credit card and “tipped” if enough people sign up.

While DOD placement within Facebook pages may seem like just the latest Groupon clone, Adgregate CEO Henry Wong told BIA/Kelsey that there is an important, fundamental difference. “We’re not using e-mail lists, but activating the existing fan base to go get new fans.” This ties into the all-important Facebook social graph.

Gamestop and Gap are among the IR Top 500 that will roll out the group buying function this quarter. Wong also sees robust potential for deals growth in the travel, sports/sporting goods and media/entertainment verticals.

Flash sales, social badging and check-ins, and sharable wish lists and registries are also available through ShopFans. Retailers can also integrate their existing loyalty programs into their Facebook pages. Purchases can not only be made within social storefronts, but also on “walls.” This enables single-step activation between viral sharing and purchase.

Currently, social commerce is predominantly a “national play,” but could increasingly move down market in the years to come as the backend merchant infrastructure and analytics dashboard become more streamlined while security concerns are mitigated. “Once the plumbing is in place, you can go to more localized areas,” Wong said. The company does have a partnership with ShopLocal (the retail division of Gannett’s PointRoll) to push local offers and coupons across Facebook storefronts.

Wong thinks social commerce can burgeon into a $2 billion to $4 billion business within the next two to four years. Others see similar potential, explaining the growing list of companies looking to partner with retailers to transform their Facebook presence.

Alvenda and Payvment are among those vying with Adgregate Markets for merchant partnerships. Wildfire App provides a similar group buying offering with deals pushed out across multiple channels (Facebook, Twitter, Web site), but is primarily a promotions builder with self-service capability. Adgregate is not self-serve because of the involvement and expertise required to lattice full-service commerce functionality on top of existing platforms.

The post Adgregate Markets Enhances Shopping Tools for Social Commerce appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.