Payvment has appointed Jim Stoneham, a former executive at Yahoo Inc., as chief operating officer.
The company offers an e-commerce platform that allows Facebook users—whether they are individual artisans, retailers or manufacturers—to host stores and sell products within the social network. While most other companies feature Facebook storefronts as add-ons to the e-commerce software packages they sell, Payvment’s offering is free. However, finding a revenue-generating model, most likely by selling permium services, such as analytics or targeting tools, is one area Stoneham is tasked with developing.
“Right now we’re focused on getting the right formula that enables people to generate conversions on Facebook,” he says. “We know that over time that will yield opportunities.”
Stoneham says the depth and scale of the social graph, the relationships between consumers and businesses on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, is providing both vendors and retailers with an opportunity to redefine e-commerce.
Payvment is aiming to do just that.
The vendor recently launched a Shopping Mall application on Facebook that brings together the wares of all of Payvment’s more than 50,000 U.S.-based sellers so that Facebook users can browse, share and buy products from all those sellers without leaving the social network. Merchants that are part of the mall include single-person operations such as craft sellers and nationally distributed products like Say Yes to Carrots, a skin care brand.
“In the real world the mall is a very social environment,” he says. “People move in packs comparing products with each other and socializing around the experience. We’re trying to recreate that online.”
Stoneham previously oversaw Yahoo Inc.’s Yahoo Communities business, which includes photo-sharing service Flickr, Yahoo Answers and Yahoo Groups. He was also part of a Yahoo team that developed the company’s social strategy, including its Facebook and Twitter integrations. He has also held several positions at startups and worked as a Kodak vice president and Apple Inc. product line general manager.
“Jim is an ideal fit for Payvment as he brings the perfect mix of startup experience and a stellar track record of growing and leading large-scale consumer products businesses,” says Christian Taylor, Payvment CEO. “The addition of Jim to our leadership team underscores that Payvment continues to attract top industry talent as we enter our next phase of growth.”