<img class="size-full wp-image-3226 alignnone" title="Geoff" src="/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Geoff-e1309894577653.jpg" alt="" width="40" height="40" />
The face of retail has been changing for quite some time. As consumers we are fortunate to have multi-channel opportunities to purchase nearly every product imaginable. Thanks to the wonderful world of the digital space, E-commerce has brought harmony to those not wanting to enter a brick and mortar location to purchase a product. It has also put products not readily available at local stores within arms (or even fingers) reach. <a href="http://www.emarketer.com/blog/index.php/tag/how-many-people-shop-online/" target="_blank">Emarketer.com</a> says that 72.6% of Internet users will buy online in 2011, so we know this is a growing area of interest.

Given that we’re in a digital world, most of us are likely to be online more than just a few times a day. (Of course, not during <a href="http://www.cbx.com/" target="_blank">CBX </a>hours...) That’s where Facebook comes in. A few years ago the social networking site launched an E-commerce platform. They are allowing brands to sell their goods on their site. Brands can sell there products in two different ways: either directly on the site – as with <a href="http://www.facebook.com/gillette#!/gillette?sk=app_286257878071394" target="_blank">Gillette</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/HeinzKetchup?sk=app_132952096748314#!/HeinzKetchup?sk=app_132207330134745" target="_blank">Heinz</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/walmart?sk=app_262720793769871" target="_blank">Walmart</a> – or by bringing you to another site by clicking a link featured on the brand’s Facebook page, as with <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pampers?sk=app_223092957716189" target="_blank">Pampers</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Macys#!/Macys?sk=app_187865291301756" target="_blank">Macy’s</a>. If you “like” any of the sites, you will receive special offers, either on the page or via a pop-up site. Take a look at these pages:

<a href="http://cbxblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Heinz1.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3840 alignnone" style="margin-right: 5px; margin-left: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px;" title="Heinz1" src="/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Heinz1.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="175" /></a><a href="http://cbxblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Pampers2.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3841 alignnone" style="margin-right: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-bottom: 15px;" title="Pampers2" src="/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Pampers2.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="175" /></a><a href="http://cbxblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Walmart1.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3842 alignnone" style="margin-right: 5px; margin-left: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px;" title="Walmart1" src="/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Walmart1.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="175" /></a><a href="../wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Macys1.jpg"><img class="alignnone" style="margin-right: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-bottom: 15px;" title="Macy's1" src="../wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Macys1.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="175" /></a>

The question for us as a branding agency is, how does packaging play out in the social media space? When a brand comes to us for a packaging redesign, we now need to design products to be successful across all media, not just on a 3-D shelf. I think it’s time for internal marketing departments to realize that perhaps packaging should not just be shrunken down and slapped on a Facebook page – let’s look at this new Facebook platform as an opportunity to create an online-specific version of its packaging.