New Gift Finder application makes it easy for consumers to find the perfect Christmas gift online

New Gift Finder application makes it easy for consumers to find the perfect Christmas gift online

John Lewis has launched a brand new Facebook e-commerce platform in time for Christmas with the help of product marketing data feeds expert, FusePump.

The John Lewis Perfect Gift application is designed to allow Facebook users to search for gifts from the John Lewis collection based on a range of criteria including recipient, price and gift type. Shoppers are then presented with a list of relevant products and can click on the desired item to be taken to the product on the main John Lewis website and complete the transaction.

Maximising existing e-commerce presence

The Perfect Gift is powered by FusePump’s product data feeds, which take the relevant product information from John Lewis’s website and display it within the application. FusePump’s approach to product data feeds means the application requires minimum input from John Lewis, with any changes to its online catalogue – whether new products or simple updates – updated automatically in the Perfect Gift. The data feeds can also be used by a variety of social media platforms, enabling the retailer to take advantage of the ‘like’ and share functionality of Facebook to boost user numbers and the chance of the application going ‘viral’.

Brignell-Cash, FusePump managing director, said that a standard e-commerce site in Facebook does not generate the necessary interest to really take advantage of what the platform has to offer.

Making Facebook applications easy to use

“But if a Facebook application is innovative and easy to use, it will reach a much wider audience,” he said.

“Of course, creating this type of e-commerce site is only possible with the right type of product data feeds and working with John Lewis provided us with a fantastic opportunity to show just how effective our data feeds can be in a social media environment.”

As well as presenting shoppers with Christmas gift ideas, the John Lewis Perfect Gift application has the potential to be re-skinned for different occasions, for example Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day.

The user interface and the user journey were designed by global social marketing company TBG Digital.