Fewer than 2 percent of online orders came from social networks?

According to PR Daily, companies that think social media engagement is the key to increasing online retail purchases may want to reconsider.

A new Forrester/GSI Commerce report called “The Purchase Path of Online Buyers” found that fewer than 2 percent of online orders from Nov. 12 through Dec. 20 resulted from buyers coming from a social network.

Email marketing and search advertising, meanwhile, proved to be more effective in driving sales.

The study also reveals that:

“45 percent and 53 percent of hard and soft goods transactions, respectively, touched at least two marketing touch points. This data highlights opportunities for retailers to think beyond the traditional ‘last-click’ measurement they typically attribute to marketing programs.”

Fiona Dias, executive vice president of strategy and marketing for GSI Commerce, reasoned that the data could be explained by taking a look at Sunday church services. She told Mashable:

“If you go with the theory that you should market where the people are, then you should be running off to market during church services. Facebook has the same analogy. Buying things from retailers is maybe tenth on the list of things they want to do on Facebook.”

This is very interesting especially when brands are creating E-Commerce tabs on Facebook in growing numbers as of lately.