eBay Delivers Graphite's Social Features to GSI Commerce Clients

eBay's platform for large merchants and brands has integrated with a social commerce platform to help its clients offer social features on their websites. GSI Commerce has integrated the 8thBridge Graphite social platform with its webstore technology so that GSI clients can use Graphite's social features on their websites to drive engagement and monetize and track social commerce.

Reuben Hendell, Chief Strategy Officer for GSI Commerce, said clients will be able to offer a host of social features, including social login, social CRM and curation features provided by Graphite. The curation feature allows customers to create and share collections of their favorite products on clients' websites. An example of a website using Graphite's social curation features is Debshops.com - click on the Style Boards link at the top of the home page, and connect via Facebook to see the feature in action, which operates similarly to Pinterest, but keeps shoppers on the retailer's own website.

Hendell said 8thBridge allows GSI to draw from the social graph of behavior and understand what's happening. It ties in with GSI Commerce's vision of the connected consumer experience. "Consumers are opting in to the social conversation on brand sites, and Graphite allows that to happen."

Brands get it when it comes to listening to social conversations, Hendell said, and there are a million tools out there. "We're helping them analyze what it means and how to translate information into overall brand engagement." He believes social commerce is still in the early stages, and GSI Commerce is helping brands think through the potential, he said.

"For the first time, social engagement and commerce capabilities are available across GSI's connected consumer experience, enabling earned value creation and revenue generation - all grounded with powerful analytics," Hendell said.