Case Study: Incipio Taps Facebook as a Sales Channel

PROBLEM: Incipio, a designer, manufacturer and retailer of accessories for mobile devices, wanted to bring its product assortment and shopping experience to the place where its customers and prospects were spending the majority of their time — Facebook.

SOLUTION: Partnered with an e-commerce solutions provider to establish a Facebook storefront.

RESULTS: Since launching its Facebook commerce platform in January, Incipio has seen a 20 percent lift in conversion from consumers originating from or purchasing via Facebook compared to non-Facebook traffic. In fact, Facebook is now the No. 2 source of organic traffic to Incipio's site (Google). The average order value for Incipio's Facebook customers is also higher vs. the brand's non-Facebook customers. It's all added up to an increase in revenue.

It's not surprising that tech-savvy consumers are likely to spend more time on social networking sites compared to other consumer demographics. This is a big reason why Incipio, a cross-channel retailer of mobile device accessories, decided to bring its online store to its customers rather than vice versa. Incipio launched a Facebook store in January with the help of on-demand e-commerce solution provider ShopVisible.

Incipio isn't new to Facebook — the brand debuted on the social networking site in 2007. As of press time, Incipio had 15,926 Facebook fans. Pre-Facebook, Incipio could be found on Myspace. Having a social presence has been part of the company's culture since it was founded 12 years ago.

"Our whole concept behind this was to take our product line to where our customers were spending their time rather than asking them to leave the site," says Andy Fathollahi, Incipio's president, of the retailer's decision to launch a Facebook storefront. "Recent statistics show that the average person spends an hour on Facebook a day. A lot of people are spending most of their web experiences within Facebook."

Incipio has capitalized on the growing trend of people accessing Facebook via their mobile device. The synergy that exists between the brand and its customers and prospects is exemplified on Facebook with an interactive experience. The social network has proven to be a forum for Incipio's fans to ask questions of the brand and each other, recommend products, and voice frustrations, among other things.

Familiarity Yields Seamless Integration
Already Incipio's 
e-commerce platform provider, ShopVisible quickly and easily integrated the retailer onto its social commerce platform, enabling Incipio to put its entire product catalog for sale on Facebook within weeks. Incipio was only responsible for making some minor decisions around how it wanted people to enter its Facebook storefront, what the page flow would look like and how the checkout process would work.

Only seven months into selling on Facebook, Incipio is already making some changes to its social commerce approach. To help keep the look and feel of Facebook, Incipio is showing its products and letting people discuss them. If they're interested in something, they can then go to the product page to make a purchase. Previously consumers were directed straight to a product page.

"We're shifting our strategy a little bit," notes Fathollahi, "from 'OK, this is how you buy product within Facebook' to 'This is how you discuss product within Facebook.' We're focusing on friend/experience, friend/opinion and interactions with people that you may not be friends with but who share that experience about a product. Then there's sort of the 'Oh, by the way, you can buy it, too.'"

The philosophy shift is aiming to improve upon an already successful initiative for Incipio. The retailer has seen increased conversion rates and average order values — and ultimately increased revenues — from consumers originating from or purchasing via Facebook.