ANALYSIS OF JCPENNEY - FACEBOOK

AS A MARKETING CHANNEL CASE

SUBMITTED BY -
RISHIBHA SINGLA
ROLL NO – 28069
PGDM, 2ND YEAR

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CASE ANALYSIS
Summary:
At the point when the world went on the web, physical hides away up sites. At
the point when the world begun going portable, retailers followed them to their
telephones. Since the world is moving to informal communities, stores are
following them there as well. Today J.C. Penney turned into the first
significant retailer to make its whole inventory accessible to customers inside
Facebook—not simply to examine, yet to purchase. Beginning now, you can
buy any of the 250,000 things that the retail chain sells on the web from its
Facebook page. The organization expects numerous deals will occur because
of customers seeing things recorded in their companions' news channels and
afterward navigating to the item pages, still inside Facebook. Different
organizations have begun selling from inside Facebook, however it doesn't
create the impression that any have done as such as widely as J.C. Penney.
Delegate and Gamble offers Pampers diapers inside the interpersonal
organization, and 1-800 Flowers has made a determination of their flower
bundles accessible there too. In any case, J.C. Penney has pushed its entire
inventory to the organization. Anything you can purchase at the organization's
site is presently accessible on Facebook. J.C. Penney expects that the new
channel will give it more data about its clients, which could impact future
advertising and item decisions. That incorporates the periods of their clients,
what kinds of items they share with others, and how regularly they examine the
store's contributions.

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Q1. Is the emergence of full-fledged Marketing channels on social
networks sites by most major retailers inevitable? Why or why not?

Ans. Yes, the emergence of full-fledged marketing channels on social

networks sites by most major retailers is inevitable as trend of online shopping
is increasing day by day in these days. The use of these social media sites such
as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn plays an important role in online shopping.
Online shopping advertising is well planned in such a way that the customer’s
satisfaction is targeted in proper manner. Before this, the offers are advertised
on social media in advance to capture audience. It will interlace the aspect of
social into the aspect of commerce. The research shows that about 89%
customers share their photos on online sites and the fact that younger people
are already using social networks for shopping means that social networking
sites are beginning to emerge as marketing channel for shopping.

If a customer purchases a product from social media site, they will share a
photo of it with their near ones. Therefore, the marketers are now convincing
their customers to the social media sites rather than the commercial sites. So
that people are aware by the upcoming updates provided by the firms. This
strategy of using social network as marketing strategy & making them as
online marketing channels could be the most interactive marketing creativity
that the companies use to gain profits in the commercials. Therefore, according
to me, establishing a marketing channel on a social media site is a great way
for retailers to really connect with their customers. Retailers can analyze how
customers are responding by observing “buzz” and feedback.

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Q2. Will social media sites be viewed by many manufacturers as a channel
to sell their products directly to consumers?

Ans. As per the report 3.26 billion people will be using social media which is
42.3% of total population by 2020. As we have seen in case of JCPenny’s
Facebook as marketing channel who had become the first retailer to offer its
entire products through Facebook channel. John Nelson believed that it would
generate more of its revenue from it e-commerce channel. So using social
media as a marketing strategy would be a great tool for manufacturers to sell
their products directly to end users.

The use of social channel encourages social integration and contribution of the
users as well as the shops customers. This type of bonding where
communication either verbal or written, dialogue and sharing associate with
social network will create a strong relationship with the customers as well as
the retailers. Therefore, according to me social media sites be viewed by many
manufacturers as a channel to sell their products directly to consumers.

Q3. Do you think shopping from a firm's online channel embedded in a

social networking site is somehow different from shopping on the firm's
regular website? Explain.

Ans. There is a difference between shopping directly from a social media site
and from a company’s website. When you shop from a company’s website,
you manually type in the address and search on your own. However, when
you are browsing on Facebook, the store appears right in front of you and
creates a “top of mind” effect. Facebook has already started making
suggestive advertising based on your web searches, so having access to an

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online store would be a reinforcement for advertising. There is also the social
factor involved with purchasing something directly from social network. Are
people going to see my purchase? Do I want to share photos? Should I post a
comment about my satisfaction/dissatisfaction?

Even though you can write reviews on a company website, seeing a review
from someone you know (a Facebook friend) is going to be more valuable for
prospective customers. We learned that consumers have opinion leaders,
meaning their opinion matters to them. It will be much more effective for
future sales if your friends are posting about their purchases. This could also
go both ways, however. If people are dissatisfied and start posting on
Facebook, it would have an extremely negative effect. In this instance, JC
Penney should be very connected with Facebook and respond to
complaints/bad reviews. Purchasing from a company website versus social
media site is definitely different, and which one is better can be debated.