As the world changes to social, commerce also changes. It used to be that one could open an online store for products or services, prepare a descriptive sales page, add a shopping cart, and successfully start selling. With the shift to social media, traditional e-commerce is fast fading as the preferred way people shop online. What is becoming more and more necessary is that electronic commerce be social. Social E-commerce or Social Commerce, as it is increasingly known, is where e-commerce meets social.

According to Wikipedia, social commerce is a subset of e-commerce that involves the use of social media, online mediums that support social interaction and user contributions, to assist in the online buying and selling of products and services. This definition could even be redefined as social commerce is not just a subset of e-commerce, but the preferred method and most likely the only productive form of future e-commerce.

So what exactly does Social Commerce mean? There are several features that shape social e-commerce. Sellers looking to implement social commerce into their operations could consider implementing the following themselves on their own sites, or they could take advantage of social hubs or social marketplaces and start marketing their products and services.

The following characteristics define Social Commerce:

1. Unlike traditional e-commerce, in the world of social commerce, buyers make their decisions to buy or try a product or service not only based on the seller’s description, but also on social reviews from other users.

2. Buyers of products and services actively participate by providing feedback and recommendations to friends and others in the community. As such, it becomes very important for the seller to closely watch the feedback and correct any faults quickly to prompt a change in any negative feedback.

3. Users of a Social Hub actively share their likes (and dislikes), mostly with just a mouse click, to various social bookmarking and social media locations. These include Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Stumble Upon, Delicious, etc. Social Commerce is Viral Commerce

4. Increasingly, social commerce is also in tune with mobile commerce. As such, deals are shared with mobile QR codes and RSS or Atom feeds, making it easy to share deals, likes, and dislikes.

5. The user is presented with not only one Seller’s offer, but often related offers from other Sellers, so the potential Buyer can make a conscious choice by looking at not just one offer, but a portfolio of all available offers, complete with Reviews, recommendations and ratings.

6. Images and videos are an inherent part of the offer, which makes the process of showing what the offer is complete not only with text, but also with images and videos. Such images and videos are shared through image networks and video networks, such as YouTube, facilitating further viral distribution with ease.

7. Everything a potential buyer needs to know, i.e. what is the offer, how long will it take to deliver, what exactly is required from the buyer if any, what payment methods are allowed, what will be delivered, etc. it’s all obvious within the description. The Buyer generally does not need to go anywhere else or click any other links to get the full picture and make an informed decision.