Future prospects of integration of e-commerce & social networking sites

With advent of Information and Communication Technology, the world has turned into a global village. It has been rightly said, “It is not the strongest who survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one most adaptable to change.” The incorporation of web 2.0 capabilities into e-commerce websites has resulted in emergence of new phenomenon in business called Social commerce. It is a rising trend where seller and buyers come into contact with each other via Social networking sites. Social Commerce is a hot topic among researchers today.

Social commerce is a collective and participative means of doing commerce, with use of social media, by firm using their interactive web interface that enables social interactions. The future of Social Commerce is very bright. Increased use of Information and Communication Technology devices like smart phones, laptop, pc's etc and accessibility of Internet even in remote part of our country, strong growth is expected in next 5 years. Social Commerce has enormous potential to generate profits for businesses, which also leads to promoting trade of our country and also helps in achieving sustainable social and technological development. Social Commerce provides numerous opportunities both to businesses and Consumers. This research paper attempts to determine and analyse consumer perception and behavior regarding use of Social Commerce sites.