소셜커머스의 성장요인 분석 : 소셜미디어와 소비자의 역할

This research explores the question how interactions between customer and firm affect firm growth. To test suggested hypotheses, this study collects data on social commerce industry in Korea during the period from the beginning of social commerce industry in Korea, May 2010, to March 2012, and investigates the effect of social media on the growth of social commerce firms. We suggest two hypotheses in this study. First, as web traffic inflow through social media into a focal social commerce increases, the growth rate of the focal social commerce increases. Second, the more diverse social media channel through which web traffic inflows into a focal social commerce, the weaker the positive effect of web traffic inflow on the growth rate of the focal social commerce. Analysis of data shows that inflow through social media is positively related to the growth of social commerce. In addition, our analysis shows that inflow channel diversity weakens the positive relationship between web traffic inflow through social media and growth rate of social commerce firms. These results suggest that firms need to concentrate on few social media in order to attract customers. The study contributes to understanding how interaction between firms and customers influences the growth of the firm.