We’ve all visited eCommerce sites. But what are scommerce sites? Believe it or not, some of the largest scommerce sites are Amazon and Groupon. Now, all sizes of companies can sell through these means, but if you've ever worked with them you know there is a very small margin of profitability.

What if a business wants to take their own ecommerce site and control their own scommerce on the Internet, and not lose a piece of their profit margin to the goliaths like Amazon and Groupon?

Is there a solution and how can they compete?

If an ecommerce business has a strong social network presence, they can now have their foot in the door with an scommerce site at work for their business.

So what does an scommerce site look like?

First and foremost, a business needs to have a strong ecommerce site built to support and work laterally with the scommerce site. All the ecommerce sites we build have this marketing strategy built into them.

On Facebook we build a Facebook store branded to mimic their ecommerce site. Then on their website we make sure to have a Facebook module in place to connect visitors directly to Facebook, which allows them to easily like, share, and comment directly from the website.

Let’s show you an actual ecommerce site with all these bells and whistles. Recently, we built a website called, smart-candy-shopper.com. We have the usual social share buttons on the site to help encourage those visiting the site to share their favorite candies on their own social pages. All the products have the pin button to encourage pinners to pin their favorite candy to their board. In the sidebar of the site, you’ll see the Facebook timeline where you can interact with Facebook from the website.

Now, let’s go to Facebook. You’ll find them at: smartcandyshopper. While I'm explaining it, check it out for yourself. On their business page, there's a menu item called shop. When you click on shop, it opens the Facebook store. You can scroll through the multitude of candy and click to buy now. Where does it take you? Find out for yourself!

Pinterest is gearing up to begin their own scommerce environment that will make a pinner's experience feel like they're on Amazon. They are currently beta testing. No longer will avid pinners need to leave the comfort of Pinterest to shop to their heart's content! I can't wait to be able to provide this option to our ecommerce clients!

The term scommerce has been in existence since 2005, which helped to define the online collaborative shopping tools such as shared pick lists, user ratings and other user-generated content-sharing of online product information. But the recent emergence of actual shopping experiences outside the ecommerce environment takes it to a whole new level for those small to mid-size businesses who want additional exposure for their business!

Wake up LinkedIn! You're missing a huge share of the scommerce market.

Alyse Mitten, owner of Interlace Communications, assists businesses in creating a combination of online and print marketing solutions using traditional marketing with community paper advertising and direct mail to website design, social network promotions, and email engagement. Contact Alyse at alyse@gomaava.com, 484.709.6564, or connect on LinkedIn at Alyse Mitten.