Cover Story: A Beautiful Marriage

"I'm pretty bullish on it," says Flaherty in regards to social commerce. "We have a very long purchase cycle, and I go back to that trust factor. I don't think there's a single consumer that's bought from us that hasn't checked out our Facebook page or Pinterest site to make sure we're legitimate. It may not be the one impetus for purchase, but it's certainly among the many credibility factors that people are looking for. They want to know if the brand is there and is going to respond or is this some fly-by-night organization. Social is very important to that."