Payvment, a startup that allows anyone to create and operate a retail storefront on Facebook, is releasing a new version of its social commerce platform that aims to meet needs of larger retailers, brands and agencies.
Payvment’s Facebook App, which launched in November of 2009, lets anyone create a retail store on the social network. The app lets you set up products, categories of products (i.e. shoes, T-shirts, sweaters), import photos, list terms of service and shipping options and more. Once you set up your online shop on Facebook, it will show up in a separate tab on your profile or page under “storefront”. The company also offers a virtual shopping mall of all of its storefronts on Facebook.
The new paid versions, Payvment Premium and Payvment Platinum, inclue advanced analytics on Likes, comments and Tweets on a product-by-product basis. Retailers can also create an automated and product-specific social promotion, allowing users to schedule posts to their Wall and Twitter feeds to promote key products and deals. And sellers will also be able to run promotions on individual products using coupon codes.
Premium versions also support multiple storefronts and administrators from a single dashboard. Payvment Premium, which includes all of the existing features of Payvment’s free application as several new features listed above, will be available for $29.95 per month or $299.95 yearly. Payvment Platinum is a customized version of the e-commerce platform that includes an unlimited number of storefronts, account administrators, 1:1 training and priority customer support.
Payvment now has over 60,000 active storefronts using the free version of its social platform. The company is now beginning to monetize so it should be interesting to see how much traction the startuo can get among paid customers. As Facebook continues to evolve as a destination for e-commerce, more retailers are looking for ways to sell their products on the social network. Of course, Facebook, which is reportedly ramping up e-commerce initiatives, could also be playing in the space soon.