Editor's note: This article appeared in the September 12, 2011, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.

Online consumers are using retailers' Facebook pages as online circulars and the pages have the power to influence purchasing decisions. Data from a study by Boston research company Compete suggests that consumers are increasingly using Facebook to enhance their shopping experience and engage with brands online, as one-quarter of consumers now visit an official Facebook page for a retailer or consumer product at least once a month. And more than half of these respondents (56 percent) use retailers' Facebook pages to keep up to date on sales and promotions.

Facebook pages also make an impact. More than 20 percent of consumers said that Facebook pages have been influential or extremely influential in making a purchasing decision, suggesting that posting sales, promotions and other calls to action on Facebook is a wise idea for retailers looking to drive incremental sales and boost consumer engagement on the social network.
 
Look no further than Apple, which uses its iTunes Facebook page as a storefront. Compete examined traffic to Facebook's top brand pages and discovered that the iTunes Facebook page actually received more traffic than the iTunes domain did in February.