Intuit Allows Facebook Storefronts for Users

Being the biggest social network, with roughly 800 million active users, has its perks. One of them is the ability of being apart of a small business e-commerce strategy with a little help from service provider Intuit.

Storefronts on Facebook are nothing new, Delta uses a similar type of interface to sell tickets through the social network and college start-up Kembrel also uses a Facebook-centric storefront instead of a full-blown website. Intuit has decided to offer the same services to their customers who use their Websites software, dubbing it Intuit SimpleStore.

SimpleStore works by syncing together a merchant's website with their Facebook Page, then everything is completed through there: browsing inventory, purchasing items, and keeping track of transactions. Customers can buy items with credit or debit cards, reports TechCrunch. Also, merchants don't even have to use a separate log-in, making it even easier and organized.

TechCrunch noted all transactions are back-end via Intuit, which could mean Facebook doesn't get a cut of the transaction and rather is just a platform for businesses to simply use instead of partnering with Intuit for a bit of revenue.

Business owner Arin Madison was interviewed over at Business Wire, explaining her children's accessories business saw a 40 percent increase from using Intuit SimpleStore, on top of more repeat sales because of the ease of "checking back daily for new products and have the luxury to do so while logged in to their Facebook accounts."

The idea of syncing an e-commerce website to a Facebook Page is not new, however. There are already several different options available, such as Payvment, Storefront Social, and Ecwid. In fact, the "social network storefront" has been around for a while, but, only has recently begun to see some real responses and media attention.