While there has been a lot of debate about selling goods through social media sites, motocross brand Metal Mulisha recently became one of the first action sports company to sell merchandise directly through their Facebook fan page.
Just before the X Games, the brand partnered with a technology company called Alvenda, that allows customers to complete their checkout on their own Facebook home page rather than linking them to Metal Mulisha’s website. Alvenda also helped launch a Facebook selling platform for 1-800-Flowers.com, Delta Airlines and Best Buy.
The idea came from Ryan Cropley, the head of Digital Marketing at Metal Mulisha. “I am always looking for new technologies to be ahead of other brands in our industries and came up with the concept of selling through Facebook,” he said.
Cropley said Mulisha Founder Brian Deegan was also looking for a way to push the envelope of their online presence.
According to VP of Sales, Bill Gage, when Metal Mulisha was founded in 1999, they got their start by selling products online.
Today the brand’s online presence is still very important and they currently have over 270,000 fans on their Facebook page.
“There’s almost a cult like following of people who comment to the site,” added Gage.
The brand also has the largest fan pool of the La Jolla Group’s branded Facebook fan sites, making it the perfect brand of the La Jolla portfolio to test out the new technology with.
Sales will be easy to track, and through Facebook, consumers can be targeted easily based on preferences.
While only a few weeks old, Gage said they have not had staggering sales, but that they have seen significantly more referrals to the MetalMulisha.com website from Facebook. Gage and Cropley said feedback on the site so far has been very positive, though.
“It seems that buying on Facebook is still a bit foreign,” said Gage.
As time goes on, things may change. After all, with Facebook reaching over 500 million users this July, there is only room to grow.
