8thBridge, the smart social commerce startup in Minneapolis, has just released their second annual Social Commerce IQ study and it’s a free download.

There are several revelations in the study, none the least of which is about Pinterest and the report conclusions surprised me. Several retailers, marketers and clients I know have been thinking for some time that Pinterest is the be-all, end-all of driving social commerce. Turns out the study discovered, “…a major shift in social commerce strategy that is perhaps best exemplified by increasing interest in Pinterest, which has been adopted among 78 percent of IR 500 companies in less than a year but has not generated a corresponding rise in traffic or sales conversion.”

The other revelation for me, some of which has been reinforced from time I’ve invested with Internet Retailer itself, are how many companies there are out there that most of us have never heard of and are actually selling a lot online. More importantly these are the ones that are learning what it takes to succeed with social commerce and not waiting around until everything is crystal clear in order to do so (since by then it’s too late!). Take a look at these “Top 10 Retail Brands”. How many have you shopped at? Is your brand waiting around to have others figure out social commerce?

The top 10 retail brands by Social Commerce IQ:

1. Fab.com 2. Deb Shops 3. Coastal Contacts 4. ModCloth 5. PetFlow.com	6. ShoeDazzle 7. JackThreads.com 8. CafePress 9. Birtchbox 10. Totsy

The other interesting aspect were the consumer findings in the report. Some of these didn’t enlighten me — such as that 70% of people would rather get a trusted recommendation from a friend than from some brand — but what did was that 56% of people don’t share things on social networks to get something in return. So how do you motivate sharing?

Consumer findings from the report include:

• 70 percent of respondents would rather hear about a new product from a Facebook friend, than from a brand.
• 57% have asked their friends on Facebook for advice before purchasing a product
• 31% say they don’t share products on social networks, while 63% say they share on Facebook, 25% on Twitter, and 22% on Pinterest
• 64% said that more Facebook “likes” on a product do not increase the likelihood that they will buy that product
• 44% say they are most likely to discover new products on Facebook compared to 21% on Pinterest and 13% on Twitter, but 37% don’t pay attention to posts about products
• 56% do not share things on social networks to get rewards.

Brand findings from the report include:

• Facebook Upstream Traffic: 2.46%
• Pinterest Upstream Traffic: 0.13% (Low)
• Twitter Upstream Traffic: 0.06% (Distant 3rd)
• 35% of companies researched had apps on Facebook that were not functioning and/or were out of date.
• 51% of companies have incorporated the Pin It button

See the full press release right here on Minnov8 or go to the 8thBridge site here to download the report.